2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Baileys_Babe

I too would like to say thank you. I love being part of the village. As you know I lack even basic needle skills, @Laura_Elsewhere has written me instructions on how to sew on a button. I can boil a kettle, bake cakes, sweep and dust, enjoy the chat. Occasionally I come to sit quietly at the back to mend me, the village hall is perfect for that.

Laura_Elsewhere

@Baileys_Babe, I'm not sure anyone could pay a higher compliment to the ladies of the Much Mending on the Borrow village hall....

Thankyou. xx

MrsCD

@Laura_Elsewhere, your shawl is a thing of beauty and I can't wait to see it blocked with all the beads sewn on. 
I'm also very thankful for the friends in the village hall who are always there to offer advice and lend a shoulder when needed (both physically to do heavy manual work and metaphorically to prop us up!😉) 
Thank you for sharing your days.  Being a bit mad keeps me sane.

thriftwizard

Oh, you are all just wonderful! Sometimes, in quiet moments when I'm out & about with my real-life stall, I imagine how my customers, the ones who really live in the 30s/40s/50s, fill their time in their lovingly-recreated homes. The tragedy is that they don't actually live in a physical community of likeminded people, except at weekend re-enactment events like the ones I trade at, so they're kind of isolated in real life. But thanks to the technology that they mostly refuse to have, I'm sitting there in the (virtually slightly dusty) old village hall with my (imaginary) mending & (virtually) chatting to you all, just as people really used to do. That's a bit of a conundrum really!

Oh dear, that's given me an idea for the next event - there's going to be one in September, lockdown relaxation permitting - mending sessions! I've had people turn up to my stall, buy needles & thread & sit outside mending their awning or their trousers or darning their socks before; making that a proper little session might be rather popular! There are always people teaching knitting or crochet; a bit of darning or needleweaving might pull in the punters...

MrsCD

I used to darn DH's socks, many moons ago, but he doesn't seem to go through them as much now since he retired and doesn't wear steel toecaps any more! I do hope these skills are passed on and not lost in the mists of time. I think it's a great idea, @thriftwizard.

Liverpool_Anne

When I was a very poor student my flatmate, and still good friend, used to borrow my socks when she didn't have a clean pair. Coming from a large family this was normal in her house but not in mine as my sister is 12 years older than me and had left home by the time we had the same size feet. Whenever my friend borrowed my socks she managed to put a hole in the toe. I became quite good at darning during that time

Laura_Elsewhere

@thriftwizard, I shall let you know whenever we're able to go and visit My Intended Ma-in-law who lives very near you, and would be very very happy to spend an hour or so sitting outside your stall, darning and mending and drawing in customers for you  

I used to darn my fellow-students at college, in exchange for cider, and later on in the 90s I would go up to a nearby road-protest camp every autumn and darn them up for the winter, poor souls... 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@thriftwizard, I shall let you know whenever we're able to go and visit My Intended Ma-in-law who lives very near you, and would be very very happy to spend an hour or so sitting outside your stall, darning and mending and drawing in customers for you  

I used to darn my fellow-students at college, in exchange for cider, and later on in the 90s I would go up to a nearby road-protest camp every autumn and darn them up for the winter, poor souls... 

Count me in, too, @thriftwizard, although I’ll probably be sitting there and knitting.  It would be lovely to go to a real live event and actually meet people. 

- Pip

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said: It would be lovely to go to a real live event and actually meet people. 

Wouldn't it just?! Perhaps someone could suggest a time and we could have a virtual mending bee? We can chat on here in more-or-less real time, and (if we're lucky) possibly post a few pictures of ours projects.

Shropshirelass

Hello everyone, while you have all been busy darning, I've been making some 'necessary' purchases, and spending coupons like there's no tomorrow, which has left me feeling a bit panicking. The bra was essential, although I have a drawer full of ancient models, I was starting to reach 5pm every day and tear off whatever I was wearing. Not a good look at 38/D.
Summer pyjamas because the 3 year olds I will abandon to become garage rags (DH is smiling as he loves potential greasy rags) are so thin as to be embarrassing, they were a cheap buy I should have not bothered with.
But I also indulged in a jacket, wool tweed, bought in sale, 30 inches long, so will count the full 14 coupons. Excuse is I do need one, and HD offered to pay half for my birthday present, which is very generous, although my birthday isn't till May...
So that is half my coupons gone already.I
I will post this before adjusting my ration book.