2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

nannygladys

You've all reminded me about my own knicker mountain waiting to be sorted. A couple of years ago I made a few pairs of knickers and they fit perfectly before lockdown weight gain (it's slowly going now) so at the moment I'm wearing older stretchy ones and there's loads of those!!!!

Socks, I've got about a dozen pairs of knitted ones that are lovely and warm in the winter and enough thinner ones for other times, so I'm ok there. 

I seem to be ok for under clothes but not for everyday clothes, both summer and winter. Like others I have bought things I can't get into comfortably or just the colour is wrong and looks terrible and all taking up wardrobe space, and its hearing all you lot that getting me fired up to actually get off me bum and do something about it!!!! I still haven't properly started but this weekend coming could be it, not sure why I'm putting it off. I do like the idea about a patchwork jacket, perhaps for summer!!! Ps I seem to wear the same things over and over again, just changing the t-shirts from long sleeves to long sleeves, according to the weather.
Nannyg

maddiemay

Laura_Elsewhere Thanks I do sometimes use White vinegar, but OH is only allowed to wash Nics and socks belonging to me! and adding something other than the washing egg would involve too much thought!  He is brilliant at a lot of things domestic, washing is not one of them bless him.
How much vinegar per wash load do you recommend please?

PipneyJane I think that there are probably Chinese/Asian shops in Laura's neck of the woods which is not far away, but hardly ever go there as we usually meet up with the offspring who live in that area somewhere mid-way to eat out these days. I last bought 2 x 5 litres White vinegar from a large independent SM about 10 miles from here, a visit there is on the cards sometime soon.

The head count (or should it be tail count for nics is 24 pairs of black (some very thin) Sl0ggies and 7 pairs of white, they do feel softer now, obvs I can afford to save up a batch and give them the vinegar treatment.  Socks are still merrily going around in the TD, not looking forward to pairing them up!!

retiredinfrance

yes, PipneyJane, I do know that Un Jour Ailleurs, and there is a branch quite near me - well an hour's drive away. I currently have a pair of their linen trousers ( from a CS) and something else, can't remember. I have been having trouble getting winter trousers that I like and which fit me, so a visit is on the cards. I usually buy my trousers in the UK, in M@rkS, but the latest pair bought last September are not right- leg length and ankle width.
As for knickers I am working on a rotation of 5 ,  well mended and/or re-elasticated for home use and 2  better pairs for going out. The home ones are wearing out nicely.

thriftwizard

Have I told you the tale of my grandfather's reverse burglary? Ah well, here goes; it must have been quite recent as it was during the blackout... He had a dozen hens `at the bottom of the garden. One night he awoke to hear a commotion in the chickenshed, and ran down the garden, thinking a fox might have broken in. But there were no holes... then, in the faint moonlight, he spotted a couple of chaps haring away across the field behind, a sack flapping over one shoulder. Resigned to finding less than a dozen the next morning, he went back to bed. At the crack of dawn, he got up to let the birds out & count them, and was utterly astonished to find he now had 14... it seems someone had got fed up with swapping their egg ration for chicken feed! Grandad thought they'd be terrible layers & thus destined for the pot, but luckily they proved him wrong.

Socks-wise, I'm not sure I own any at all! I just use all the pairs the DDs have discarded... except my walking socks, I do own a few pairs of those. And I too shall be making more knickers shortly...

Laura_Elsewhere

My knicker-mountain problem is not so much with size as such - they all go on! - but that most of them sit below the waist and so my spare tyre makes them roll down as soon as I do anything other than stand still; I have in the past ended up with them self-rolled into a horrible tight ridge barely on my lower hips, which looked awful and was horribly uncomfortable! I just spend all day hitching at them, at the sides, and at the front where they sit bang across the middle of my tummy-bulge... I did try "full briefs" but they made me feel *so* deeply unattractive and even M.I. couldn't help giggling!!

So I am glumly looking at throwing out a load of knickers that actually have years of wear left in them, because they are very poorly-designed for larger sizes, and continuing to darn the very thin, flimsy M&S "high-waist Brazilians" that actually fit me... 

I am looking forward to sorting out my knicker-making, so I can just chuck out almost all of them... ridiculous waste, makes me feel ashamed for having bought pair after pair, often in multipacks, trying to find out if this pair would fit, nope, try this lot, nope... 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

So I am glumly looking at throwing out a load of knickers that actually have years of wear left in them, because they are very poorly-designed for larger sizes, and continuing to darn the very thin, flimsy M&S "high-waist Brazilians" that actually fit me... 

I am sure all the resourcefulness on here can come up with ways to reuse the cloth or alter the tops? Come on people... there's fabric at stake! Oh yes, and Laura's comfort, of course.

Cherryfudge

Okay, I have finally found a subject Google can't find other searches for!  
So far my searching online has come up with the following: can you use a well-fitting pair as a pattern and recut the ones that roll down? Can you do as people used to do with nylons and chop them up to stuff teddies or cushions? Can you make sections of the pretty ones into scrunchies? Can they be cut into tee shirt yarn? Can they be made into fabric roses to decorate things? Or braid bracelets?

I am probably going to be up half the night now watching tutorials on using fabric scraps.

PollyWollyDoodle

Great ideas, but I think I’d just accept that the Universe was teaching you something… and bin them!  

Great story about the chickens, @thriftwizard! 

FluffyBabyPenguin

pixtotts said:

I saw some talk of tights in the early pages I am a huge huge huge Snag fan! I wore some Christas day, 4 jumpy scratchy for attention dogs, not one mark! They wear well, they wash well, I just wish I'd bought more black ones! I have lots of pretty colours but not many practical.

I love Snag tights as well. I have two pairs that I've worn loads of times over the past two years and there's not a ladder or anything in them yet. They are not cheap tights but they do seem to be worth the money. 

About Laura's undesireable knickers; it may be possible to add a band of wide stretch lace to the top, or a folded band of cotton lycra (possibly salvaged from an old cotton lycra t-shirt). Personally I would probably not go to that effort, I'd just use those undies as dusters or bathroom cleaning cloth!

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, as FluffyBabyPenguin said I thought a band of something stretchy might help. I do use old knickers for s dusters and cleaning cloths and for things like cleaning paint brushes etc. I like the idea of reusing the fabric though as these are not yet worn out, how about lining for masks or a rag rug, iirc we have someone with a punch thing to make a rag rug, sorry I can't remember who,. or some sort of patchwork lining for cloth bags. I have a lovely bag that I use for my knitting/ crochet wips with inside pockets to pop things like a tape measure in so I can just pick it up and take it with me.
Take care everyone