2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Shropshirelass

Sunday morning greetings from damp, grey Shropshire. Thanks to everyone who contributes here, fascinating on many levels😊 I don't manage to keep up through the week but will try to catch up and post at weekends. I haven't bought or made anything relevant this week (I've been knitting a cardi out out my stash, for new local Baby Bank scheme, just to keep my hands working) I'm nervous about buying fabric on line, and feeling I should just wait til shops are open and I can get into town safely, by May I should have had my second jab. In the meantime I've been reading 'Fashion on the Ration', fascinating snips of information, and interesting to see how the government of the day dealt with problems of distribution in such hard times. It's hard to take in that the quality of clothing improved for a lot of poor people. I was born in '47, and remember some of the problems, and can understand now, why some of my mother's clothes lasted for many years. She had a green velvet-corduroy coat, beautiful material, thick and soft, never see the likes today.

Laura_Elsewhere

Gratuitous showy-offy time here, I'm afraid - I have little blue-glass dropper-bottles which I keep filled with rosewater&glycerine for my hands, and sometimes the bottle gets a bit sticky or wet- so I crocheted a little forget-me-not mat... too many petals for a real mysotis, but the colours made me smile!

It's just under two inches across, and it's more symmetrical in real life, but I couldn't wait til tomorrow when it will have been washed and pinned flat to dry, etc... 

PollyWollyDoodle

Ooh that’s beautiful, I would definitely be showing it off if I need something like that!  Why shouldn’t we have beautiful things, even for small purposes. 

Nonnadiluca

That's so pretty!

MrsCD

That's really sweet, Laura. What size hook did you use? Did you make the pattern up yourself? It would make a lovely sideboard runner if you sewed lots together.

Laura_Elsewhere

Thankyou I wanted a little something to bring some colour and prettiness...

@MrsCD,it was a 1mm hook, and the thread varied wildly- the yellow centre is some modern No.8 perle, the blue is some vintage Coats Mercer Size.40, the green is vintage but without label and I think maybe a Size.30 or 20, and the ecru is modern Puppets Eldorado Tkt.10...!  

I hadn't thought of joining them- like with knitting, I don't really do sewing together of crochet- but I could turn it into a linear pattern right enough. I just doodled around and made it up, so it's easy enough to adapt! 
I'm not really the table runner type, and I think lots of squares less than 2" in four different colours would look a bit blurred, but I might investigate the idea for the top of a camisole perhaps, or straps... 

Cherryfudge

@Laura_Elsewhere, it's very pretty - reminds me for some reason of an evening bag my Mum had in the 1950s which was black velvet with pansies on... however do you manage to work on such a small scale?!

@Shropshirelass, I'm reading the book too! It is indeed interesting. I tried to get into the Vogue website where apparently there are considerable archives of their back numbers, presumably including the ones quoted in the book, but sadly I couldn't open them even after I'd signed up. You've reminded me to have another go some time soon.

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge I've got better at small-scale work as my eyesight has deteriorated- I'm a bit nervous that once I have the eventual surgery I'll never get the close-range focus back  

Oddly, I was thinking of trying pansies at some point, as someone gave me some pansy-purple thread... almost all modern crochet thread is Size 10 or thicker, but I've been lucky on eBay and some kind people, and have some stocks of the thinner, finer cotton, the old stuff being really good, and some of that is coloured - once that's gone,I'll have to buy linen lace-making thread and dye it myself. 

Cherryfudge

That's interesting @Laura_Elsewhere - perhaps you are using that focal range more and the muscles are responding? I only feel confident doing fine work in summer when the natural light is really good.

I love pansy-purple: when I was in my teens I took up a cushion cover my Mum had half embroidered and over the course of many years completed it with satin-stitched pansies. I used single strands of embroidery thread so it was slow to fill in! I wonder if dividing up embroidery thread would work for fine crochet?

I used to know someone who dyed their own yarn... the subtleties of colour could be amazing so I'll be waiting to see what you come up with!

Laura_Elsewhere

Oh, it won't be the eye muscles- I suddenly developed cataracts aged 49, and astigmatism, both conditions in both eyes, and a year later managed a second type of cataract, again in each eye, as well as the original ones progressing at a fast gallop - 18 months later and of course no annual eye-test  last August, so I'm half-expecting when I do next get tested to have managed the hat-trick! 
The irony is that assuming the surgery works (and they are VERY good at that op these days) I will end up with probably no need for glasses sinceI was nine. I have no memory of what it's like to wake and look out at the weather or see what time it is, or anything at all, without having to first of all fumble for my specs and put them on. It will feel very strange to just open my eyes and see. BUT it will be fixed-focal range, so I shall probably have it fixed for general purposes, and need driving glasses and also reading/needlework glasses. All my life I've had roughly 10x magnification if I hold something up to my naked eye, so I shall find that strange - but not as strange as being able to wake up, dress and go out without anything on my face!