2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

skogar

Queen Jess - Congratulations on finding such lovely trousers.

Here I am banging my head against a wall - most of the local clothes shops have shut - there is almost nothing in town and I have found that some of the shops I used to use in neighbouring towns have also shut hence I have been ordering on line with little success.

As my wardrobe was looking very drab - by the time I had sent a large number of clothes (which could only be sent to the charity shop for their rags collection) and some that still looked OK but no longer fitted I was left with very little that was smart enough for work.

With advice on the board re colours etc. I had pulled together ideas for a lovely capsule wardrobe using what I had and a few pictures of things I had found on line but my planned additions of a couple of coloured linen skirts, maybe a dress and a couple of summer tops and a couple of warm cardigans are proving impossible to find even buying new. Almost everything I have ordered has gone back as it didn't fit or just looked terrible. I know what I want - I just can't find it!

Laura_Elsewhere

skogar said:

Queen Jess - Congratulations on finding such lovely trousers.

Here I am banging my head against a wall - most of the local clothes shops have shut - there is almost nothing in town and I have found that some of the shops I used to use in neighbouring towns have also shut hence I have been ordering on line with little success.

As my wardrobe was looking very drab - by the time I had sent a large number of clothes (which could only be sent to the charity shop for their rags collection) and some that still looked OK but no longer fitted I was left with very little that was smart enough for work.

With advice on the board re colours etc. I had pulled together ideas for a lovely capsule wardrobe using what I had and a few pictures of things I had found on line but my planned additions of a couple of coloured linen skirts, maybe a dress and a couple of summer tops and a couple of warm cardigans are proving impossible to find even buying new. Almost everything I have ordered has gone back as it didn't fit or just looked terrible. I know what I want - I just can't find it!

That's frustrating! 

Re the skirts and tops - is it worth seeing if you can find someone locally who could make you the clothes? 

QueenJess

@skogar I can sympathise there and hate it when it happens. I spend many an hour sifting through second hand apps and looking for new more ethical clothes places that may stock the type of clothes I would like. It’s hard work considering there’s so much out there!

I have been on the lookout for a yellow t-shirt for months and months. Should be pretty simple, but I just can’t find anything I like. It’s probably out of fashion or something, but I love yellow and don’t care about that.

Laura_Elsewhere

@QueenJess I have a couple of yellow t-shirts, bought online, made by Fruit of the Loom - they have been worn and washed quite a lot over maybe 6 or 7 years now and still look great (ie no pilling or sagging of fabric, no fading of colour, no nasty underarm marks). They're old-fashioned t-shirts, ie good quality cotton instead of stuff so thin it's indecent without a vest-top underneath, and a round neck instead of a plunging neck so deep it's indecent without a vest-top underneath! 

I would definitely recommend FotL - and it's a proper good rich sunflower yellow, too!

QueenJess

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@QueenJess I have a couple of yellow t-shirts, bought online, made by Fruit of the Loom - they have been worn and washed quite a lot over maybe 6 or 7 years now and still look great (ie no pilling or sagging of fabric, no fading of colour, no nasty underarm marks). They're old-fashioned t-shirts, ie good quality cotton instead of stuff so thin it's indecent without a vest-top underneath, and a round neck instead of a plunging neck so deep it's indecent without a vest-top underneath! 

I would definitely recommend FotL - and it's a proper good rich sunflower yellow, too!

Oh my... that's made my Monday!  Part of the problem is knowing what to search for, but I put FotL into a second hand app and hey presto, there was a lovely second hand yellow t-shirt without silly phrases/words in my size.  For the princely sum of £4 including postage, it is now coming my way.

Thank you so much!!! It would never have occurred to me to have asked someone for that!

Laura_Elsewhere

@QueenJess, hurrah! That's brilliant - I love a good yellow as well... 

Laura_Elsewhere

All the way through Ep3 of Sewing Bee I've been thinking, "all these decades I thought it was pronounced "shirring" to rhyme with "whirring" or "purring" but everyone in this, inc the two judges, is saying 'shearing' and making Alan Shearer jokes - how wrong I've been!"

Only I've just looked it up in the OED and in both British and US English it is pronounced to rhyme with whirring or purring...

I don't much fancy telling Esme and Patrick they're saying it wrong, though...  

PollyWollyDoodle

Thank you - I’ve always said it like ‘purring’ so I was very surprised to hear them say it that way!  

Yes, I love Esme  but I wouldn’t want to suggest she was wrong!  

florianatwobob

Oooh that’s interesting I’ve always pronounced it like ‘shearing’.

skogar

Hi Laura,

I have considered getting the linen skirts made but don't know anyone locally round here. I can certainly see the advantages of making your own clothes unfortunately I think what I want would be too difficult for me to make.

I think at some point I will actually have to go and visit somewhere that I can actually see some clothes. Well I supose I'm saving money. ;-)

I did manage to pick up a beige monsoon linen skirt off ebay second hand so no coupons. It was very reasonable as it was missing a button but oddly when it arrived it still had the tags in. There is only 1 button on the skirt so there was no issue with matching it but I hadn't realised that the button is on the inside so definitely no issue with matching - when I have sewn one on I will be able to wear it. I would have preferred a plain one (this has a flowery pattern in a similar coloured trim - so not that noticable) but at the price I couldn't argue and it's a good quality linen skirt. I don't really like buying 2nd hand clothes online as you can't always judge the sizing accurately but in this case it seems to have worked.

Queen Jess - Great nes on you finding the yellow t-shirt. It's frustrating isn't it - sometimes the things that you think are the most simple become the most difficult to find.