2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

TwibbleDee

The dress came!  I put it on and asked hubby his opinion when he got home.  "Sexy!"  I need to try it with a bra instead of a tank top to make sure it's not too revealing, but I think I'm keeping it.  I definitely need to wear shorts or something underneath it (or suck my stomach in....), but it hits right below my knees, so plenty of length.

Cherryfudge

Exciting! Is it as comfortable as the reviews of the other dresses on the site lead one to believe? It looks a lovely colour.

TwibbleDee

Cherryfudge said:

Exciting! Is it as comfortable as the reviews of the other dresses on the site lead one to believe? It looks a lovely colour.

It is very comfy, and a lovely colour indeed.

PollyWollyDoodle

I do love a new frock!  @Cherryfudge I think I had that app a while back, I carefully hung my clothes up and photographed them ... and still found I was pulling the same items out of the wardrobe every time! 

If you find it hard to throw things out then this isn’t going to sound very appealing to you, but I can honestly say that doing the ‘Marie Kondo’ approach a few years ago was lifechanging. When I got all my tops out in one go I realised how many I had (eight black t-shirts? Seriously?), and I also recognised that some of them just didn’t appeal. All sorts of reasons, too tight, too scratchy, I only kept the ones that I really felt I would want to wear. Same with trousers, cardigans, sweaters - I only have things I love now.  All my clothes fit in the wardrobe, I don’t have to pack away summer and winter stuff, and everything goes with something else. It also had an impact on my future buying, I only buy something if I really love it. No “it will do” purchases!  I’m not a fashionista, I mostly live in jeans and T-shirts when not working, but they are comfortable jeans and t-shirts in colours I like. 

 This last year has been a revelation to me, I think I have used about six garments on rotation, obviously when we are able to go out and see people again some of the other stuff will come into play, but I really don’t need as much as I thought.  Sometimes having less choice makes things easier. 

dolly84

Cherryfudge said:

I have far more than I need and sadly, that includes a number in artificial yarns as I don't tolerate wool. (I don't even tolerate commercial labels in clothing: I've got a collection of little scars over my shoulder blades from scratching where labels have irritated me). The trouble is, of course, that acrylic doesn't wear well so things pill and look shabby long before they are worn out. If anyone has any good tips to lessen this effect, I'd be grateful.

I have a friend with the same problem, she can't even tolerate the seam on socks or tights on the toes.  I sometimes have a problem with labels and it quickly rubs my skin sore but I have a very high tolerance to wool.  I hate the fact that acrylic pills so badly and looks like it is a hundred years old after a couple of wears, I am moving more towards natural fabrics, they wear so well, don't shed nasties into the water system and wool is naturally anti bacterial so doesn't need to be washed too often either.  I am vegan but do wear wool but I only buy it second hand, I don't have a problem with new wool as long as it is from the right companies though.

Laura_Elsewhere

For those with wool problems... do bear in mind that modern cheap wool is cheap because it's produced on he same machines used for processing cotton entirely mechanically, which chop everything into iirc 5mm lengths - that means a) you have tens of thousands of little hard sharp cut-ends sticking into you once the manufacturers' smoothing-gloop was worn off or washed out, and b) it is basically only spun into a yarn by brute force and gloop, and so it is going to wear thin very very quickly. 
IF you can find real vintage cashmere, my god, the difference! Phenomenally smooth and soft, and literally lasts decades with care. That's why it always used to cost a fortune, because cashmere processing is really labour-intensive but it retains the very very long smooth fibres.
Failing antique cashmere, if you can knit, or persuade someone else to knit for you, try the old-fashioned smaller producers, and if you're really serious, contact a small producer to ask them which of their wool yarns is softest and least likely to cause a problem. They should know their breeds and fleeces (in the case of Ewe & Ply, they even raise some of them iirc) and be able to advise... some more primitive breeds for instance have longer stiffer hairs which make their wool very hard-wearing, but others have much softer hairs which make their wool softer. 

But definitely avoid modern mass-produced wool if you find you have irritation problems - there are people who have a problem with wool, actual wool itself, and no matter how it's processed they can't possibly wear it - but they will have had that problem lifelong since infancy and it's actually pretty rare. 
My own belief is that a lot of the people who find their skin is irritated by wearing wool are reacting to the modern processing methods, and not to the wool itself. If you were fine with eg wool cardigans at school or wearing wool gloves/hat/scarf as a kid, then it's highly likely you are reacting to the cheap mass-production methods, and should be able to find either pre-modern garments or yarn that will not upset your skin. 

Good luck!  

TwibbleDee

@Laura_Elsewhere  My hands will itch after just running them over the wool sweaters in a store, but I do fine with the merino wool found in socks, and after wearing the dress I bought for 30 minutes of so, I didn't have any problems.

Laura_Elsewhere

@TwibbleDee, that makes sense - good merino is expensive enough in the fleece to make it worth processing properly for socks, whereas sweaters may use "lambswool" or a very small percentage of merino and the rest is short-chopped cheaply-processed maximum-profit shoddy stuff...  
Obviously your dress is good quality! 

Cherryfudge

PollyWollyDoodle said:

I do love a new frock!  @Cherryfudge I think I had that app a while back, I carefully hung my clothes up and photographed them ... and still found I was pulling the same items out of the wardrobe every time! 

If you find it hard to throw things out then this isn’t going to sound very appealing to you, but I can honestly say that doing the ‘Marie Kondo’ approach a few years ago was lifechanging. 

I had to laugh at you pulling the same items out, Polly - perhaps on a subconscious level we are just working with what works for us - so the things we wear most often are actually our best choices. I can wear the same few pairs of jeans day in, day out, with a handful of cotton tee shirts and some sort of jumper and actually that means I have a basic wardrobe for most days that's always to hand. If ever we get to 'dress up' again, I now know I have some suitable clothes but only if it's on Zo om! Maybe I need some more attention to skirts and smart trousers.

I did try Marie Kondo a few years ago and it was very helpful with underwear, socks and foot wear. I threw out the yucky yellow socks because there was nothing to like about them and they would have taken decades to wear out as I avoided using them... however I'm too fond of most of my basic wardrobe to face sorting it. I think she's right that you need to handle a piece to see get the feel of whether you 'love' it or not, though this has sometimes lead to me clawing back items I'd decided to donate as they are just too loved to get rid of, even if I haven't worn them in ages!

Cherryfudge

Thanks you @dolly84, @Laura_Elsewhereand @TwibbleDee - this all makes very good sense of my experiences with wool. I have a couple of cashmere pieces (bought second hand years ago but now experiencing a long second innings with me) and I recently got part-merino hiking socks and neither troubles me at all so perhaps it's all about the short staple of modern commercial wools. I can knit so careful sourcing might be the answer for me.