2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

MrsCD

My Grandma's wedding dress, in the early 1930's was dark blue with lots of tiny beads sewn on. I saw it once in her bedroom, but I don't know what happened to it when she had to go into a care home 😞
My Mam's wedding dress was just a nice dress she'd bought herself as she didn't have much money and my Dad was in the army doing National Service.
Mine was white, home made by my then SIL and myself. Not a fussy one, just slightly flared and no train. I had a floppy white hat with a silk rose the same as my bouquet! It was the 70's!! 
I love hearing how things have changed over the years, and Laura is doing something totally different for herself. It looks absolutely gorgeous. 
I think as long as they are happy and it's what they want, that's the main thing. I do think it's interesting how Laura's ideas are similar to my Grandma's though. Makes you think.

Cherryfudge

SezzaF said:

I hunted through my stash and found some fabric I acquired a while ago. It was furnishing fabric. I think it might have been the curtains in the dining room of the big house when they were taken down so the building could be requisitioned. I'm still not sure if anyone knows what is really happening there. It all seems very hush hush!

The fabric however lent itself very nicely to being repurposed as a kimono jacket! Now I just need somewhere to go to wear it!

@SezzaF it certainly looks like the fabric from the big house - I liked it then and I like it every bit as much as a kimono! I would imagine that slightly thicker fabric works well.

I've no idea what's going on at the big house - apart from seeing the occasional man-and-a-van parked on the pavement (why do they think no one wants to go past?). (Talking of which the pavement isn't in too brilliant a state either... I don't suppose the Council is too bothered with it being off the main road). Would love the low-down on any refurbishment, though. My net curtains would be twitching if I had any! That was another place Pip and I used to sneak into when we were children: there was a sort of tunnel under the rhododendrons that made a good den if we could get in when the gardener's back was turned.

skogar

Sezza - Your jacket looks lovely. :-)

Wraithlady

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Thankyou @skogar - Yes, when My Intended proposed last April, I made a decision fairly rapidly not to have "a wedding dress", and especially not a thousand quid of a meringue that would never get worn again! 

When I got spliced (back in the day) I did want a wedding dress, but like you, was  no way I would wear a meringue - I wasn't exactly svelte, we didn't have thousands of pounds and cheap wedding dresses looked - well, cheap.

I actually made my own using a Simplicity Renaissance Costume pattern - total cost was somewhere in the region of £30-40 iirc (this was 30 years ago, admittedly) and wore it to medieval banquets and fancy dress occasions for years afterwards.

skogar

Wraithlady - That sounds great. I never realised that simplicity did historical patterns. Love the idea of a wedding dress you could wear to medieval banquets.

dolly84

I also didn't have the fancy wedding dress, my husband's aunt made mine for me, it was oyster coloured silk, knee length with long sleeves and a sweetheart neckline with not one ounce of other detailing.  I wanted it super simple and it was.

I have had a purchase of hand knitted mittens - I haven't checked the first page before posting but I think it was 2 coupons, will check before I change my total. 

PipneyJane

On the subject of wedding dresses, I think you'll all love the story about mine...

I went on a diet and lost nearly 2 stone before my wedding to DH.  Because of the diet, I put off wedding dress shopping until nearly the last minute.  About two months before the wedding, I booked an appointment at the bridal boutique in Liberty's; they were advertising a massive sale.  On the way to them, my bridesmaid and I stopped in Debenhams and we purchased the bridesmaids dresses for her and my (now) SIL - both long, midnight blue evening dresses.  We also purchased what I called "my back up dress".  It was a cream, polyester satin, strappy evening dress.  Each of those dresses cost £80.

In Liberty, we were treated like princesses.  We were the only customers in the boutique.  I tried on multiple dresses, examined the construction - many were hand stitched - and fell in love with a beautiful, off-the-shoulder number, in pure silk damask.  It was fitted, no waistband, slender with a skirt that flared out from the lower hips.  Amazing construction underneath - multiple layers of lining and interlining to add structure.  Naturally, because I'm short-waisted, it didn't fit my waist and they would need to make a model just for me.  The dress in the sale was £1,500.  The price for the made-to-measure was £3,750.  While I could just about have justified the former, there was no way I could justify the latter.  Regretfully, I said no and decided to go with the "backup dress". 

Outside the shop, I phoned DH and told him "I've bought my wedding dress... I fell in love with a dress that cost £3,750..."  <There was an audible thud as his chin dropped.> "...but you'll be relieved to know that I didn't buy it..."  <strangled, gasping noise> "...The dress I bought cost £80!".  

I think I spent as much on good underwear for the wedding as I did on that dress.  My cream satin shoes came from the dance-shoe company, Freeths, at a fraction of the cost of "wedding shoes".  My veil was borrowed, as were my long gloves.  And you know what?  Nobody noticed.  Nobody cared.  We had a great day, which is all that mattered.

- Pip  

PollyWollyDoodle

What a great story - and how right you were. You’d hope everyone is looking at the bride’s glowing face, not her dress. 

SezzaF

What lovely stories about wedding dresses!

When my Mum got married, her Aunt made her wedding dress. She worked at a law firm, I think, in the City and laid the material out on the board table to cut it out.
Her cousin loved her dress and wanted to borrow it which was fine with Mum but the cousin's new Mum-in-law didn't like the idea of a borrowed dress so bought one herself. Mum always said it wasn't anywhere near as nice as hers but the cousin had to wear it so as not to upset anyone!

maryb

I have just spent most of today catching up on the thread, I had no idea it had moved so fast!!  Trouble is, not buying anything doesn’t give you much to talk about so I haven’t checked in for a while

However, I do have a spend to report.  My ‘uniform’ in winter is Rohan jeans, a long sleeved white tee shirt and a cashmere v necked jumper.  I bought another pair of jeans and another jumper, since my old one was going into holes under the arms.  I can just about get two winters’ wear out of a cashmere jumper, never more.  Laura Elsewhere’s post on short cheap fibres was very interesting and made a lot of sense.  Rohan jeans because they are generous around the waist and last forever

So that is 11 coupons out of my 66.  No more planned spends for the foreseeable

I have been thinking a lot recently about how I can live more sustainably in general.  There’s a lot of pressure to cut down on meat and dairy but I could not go vegan.  Also I don’t think generalised conclusions about how wasteful livestock farming is compared with using land for growing food for humans are applicable to a country with a lot of land that’s only suitable for grazing.  Anyway, I was reading a sustainable living blog which referenced an international medical commission which had come up with recommendations for a healthy and sustainable diet.  I looked at their recommendations and thought ‘ Hang on!  I recognise these’. Sure enough, they were almost identical to rationing amounts from 1940

So being a glutton for punishment, in addition to trying to stick to clothing coupon limits, I’m aiming at a more 1940s diet in terms of meat and dairy.  Eggs are supposed to be limited to one a week but I’m going to assume I keep backyard chickens.  And I’ll also allow myself things like bananas and lemons which come by sea so are not too bad for the environment.  Thinking about it, it stands to reason that the wartime diet was sustainable for the UK