2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Baileys_Babe

Another lovely dress @TwibbleDee are you planning to do the 100 day dress challenge?

TwibbleDee

Baileys_Babe said:

Another lovely dress @TwibbleDee are you planning to do the 100 day dress challenge?

I'm not sure it would be feasible with my job and the one highly identifiable dress that I have, definitely not until I have leggings or something to wear under it.  I work in a church office and am regularly under desks troubleshooting computers, up in the attic, hauling furniture, etc.

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

Are you all sure we're in 1942? These utterly extravagant lovelinesses surely can't be bought with coupons! Perhaps we have slipped back in time - wasn't the Great Hall supposed to have been situated across the back of where our present Village Hall stands? I seem to remember that archaeologist chappie back in the 1920s wanted to reconstruct it but Margo's Mother (I still think she needs capitals though she's been gone a few years now) was adamant the hall had been where the Ledbetter residence now stands, and put her foot down firmly in the form of a generous donation to add the present kitchen where the our cake tin and box of broken mugs now reside.

That aside, @Laura_Elsewhere, the shawl is a real heirloom piece (with somewhat better credentials than any of the above-mentioned buildings), and the beadwork is exquisite. @thriftwizard, the jumper is a great piece of reinvention! I think it's going to be keeping your kidneys warm for some winters to come.

We're the thrifty middle class - we all had such bad times of it during the Great Depression that, when times got better during the mid1930's, we stashed goodies away for the bad times.

I'd forgotten about that archaeologist.  I'm certain he was correct and Mrs Ledbetter was wrong.  Do you remember when we were children, @Cherryfudge, and used to climb the trees on the edge of the green?  When we got up high, we could see the outline of a building in the way the grass changed colour.

@thriftwizard - I love what you've done with that jumper.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

I love the way Much Mending on he Borrow, and the hamlet of Little Mending, have such interesting histories.

I think we were all jolly lucky to grow up here and live here still. We may live in uncertain and even dangerous times, but at least we can always come to the Village Hall here... 

PipneyJane

dolly84 said:

A few years ago there was a programme on tv about a girl being given a Yorkshire farm to run for a year, she had to learn everything from scratch (it was on local tv) and when they sheared the sheep she said they only got 50p for each fleece, I remember being totally horrified.  I also remember being horrified when M&S were selling 100% Lambswool jumpers for £20 as I always considered it a high end product which should be looked after carefully.  I don't know how you get people out of the mindset of buying cheap, they would never buy a £200 pair of repariable shoes but will happily buy 10 pairs of £20 shoes which all end up in the bin.

Near to where I live we have a mill called Abraham Moon, they do everything in one mill with each process moving up a floor, they do some gorgeous products, I have one of their Bronte by Moon National Trust throws which I absolutely love.

@dolly84, have you stumbled across the Vimes boot theory? It's from a Terry Pratchett book, Men at Arms.  You've just reiterated it.

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

Does that make sense?

Liverpool_Anne said:

Dolly, it seems to me the way to go is to learn to spin and dye if you can get a fleece for 50p, Another thing to put on my list of things to learn

It is very tempting.  I would like to learn to spin and to process fleece, but I don't know when I'd actually do it as a hobby.  I'd quite like a spinning wheel but first I'd like to know whether I liked spinning. 

In the meantime, I've decided to vote with my Pounds and buy locally produced when I can.  

- Pip

TwibbleDee

I'm trying to buy things that will last longer and suit my needs in the future, instead of just something that meets my immediate needs, but might not work for the next device or fall apart in 6 months.  

The company I would love to buy my next bag from has the tagline "They'll fight over it when you're dead."

Cherryfudge

TwibbleDee said:

Baileys_Babe said:

Another lovely dress @TwibbleDee are you planning to do the 100 day dress challenge?

I'm not sure it would be feasible with my job and the one highly identifiable dress that I have, definitely not until I have leggings or something to wear under it.  I work in a church office and am regularly under desks troubleshooting computers, up in the attic, hauling furniture, etc.

I think the 100 day challenge was done using a very basic black dress, wasn't it? And the one you have is, as you say, distinctive so someone would probably notice after a few days. I was trying to think how you could ring the changes... wrap the tie flat around your middle and put a feature brooch on the join, put a different skirt over it, make it look like a skirt with a black or gold sweater over it, wear a white or brown tee shirt underneath with or without a showy scarf or necklace... I searched 'What colour goes with teal' and other suggestions are coral, pink or navy. A lacy white sweater over the top might also work well - but that still leaves you with about 93 days to style!

I don't know much about sources of leggings, especially not long ones, but in the UK there is a company called L0ng Tall S@lly which seems to have a good selection. Perhaps someone taller than me can advise.

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

I'd forgotten about that archaeologist.  I'm certain he was correct and Mrs Ledbetter was wrong.  Do you remember when we were children, @Cherryfudge, and used to climb the trees on the edge of the green?  When we got up high, we could see the outline of a building in the way the grass changed colour.

I remember it well! And Mrs L catching us up the cherry tree and drawing herself up to her full height to say 'Girls! You must remember self control!" because we got the giggles.

Actually, I am fairly sure there must have been some other building subsequent to the Great Hall but long before our time because a couple of the stepping stones in the stream look like dressed stone. I think you will have to take a sabbatical from your day job and get the history of the village down on paper.  

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

have you stumbled across the Vimes boot theory? It's from a Terry Pratchett book, Men at Arms.  You've just reiterated it.

I have a lot of time for Sam Vimes and the rest of the gang - and I reckon he was right about boots..

thriftwizard

Spinning is wonderfully relaxing & therapeutic once you've got the hang of it, as well as extremely economical & good for your legs. The best place to try out some wheels, find one that suits you, and learn to spin is your local Guild of WSD; there's also an online Guild, which is very good, but spinning is best learnt alongside experienced spinners for the simple reason that once you're over the initial panicky stage where it feels a bit like trying to drive a car whilst making candyfloss, you just kind of fall into the rhythm of it. There are certain excellent suppliers (Wingham Wool, The Threshing Barn, Herrings etc.) where you can also try wheels out; they are generally linked to a specific wheel-maker and are looking to sell new wheels, but at a Guild you can generally pick up second (third, fourth, fifth) hand wheels for  sensible price, which you'll almost certainly recoup when you come to sell it on. (I wouldn't recommend buying one on Ebay until you know what you're doing; a non-spinner's idea of a "working" wheel is often just that it goes round!) Most Guilds have people who can teach if you want to pay for private tuition; it's not expensive. But it's not hard to pick it up just by hanging around spinners in general, and it's not long before you start to be able to design the perfect yarn for the exact garment you want to make... not to mention dyeing it the perfect colour.

Ghandi was a huge fan; he made the time to spin virtually every day, and looked on it as a form of meditation, as well as a way of feeling in touch with the world and his people. (Also as a direct poke in the face to the British industrialists, but never mind! I'm not sure we know that yet, in 1942) If you use a lot of good wool, and have the space for a wheel (some can be folded up & hidden behind a sofa) it's a very sound investment in both time & money.