2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne - oh no, poor you! My Aged Ps have theirs tomorrow, and I hope they will continue their streak of No Side Effects... 

Frantically reviewing clothing here as I head off on an early train on Tuesday morning to stay with my Aged Ps for ten days, and then it's three days a week and home for long weekends til one last single overnight trip by car with Mr E at the start of November... and it's three years since I last did an evening class face-to-face, so I'm a teensy bit nervous!
I had a lovely plan to make beautiful clothes to give me confidence and poise - but then the Lyme's knocked out virtually all of this month as a result of which I shall just about have the prototype-skirt done (in @thriftwizard's fab Laura Ashley vintage needlecord), wearable but with no pockets or lining, but the herringbone tweed skirt will be a while yet. The glorious cardigan is looking pretty glorious, and has completely finished sleeves and only 2-3 more strips to add on the body and then a mile of grey 2/2 rib at the waist, and then I still have to cut it up the front and crochet the buttonbands and sew the velvet ribbon to cover the cut ends... I shall be wearing that by next week I hope, but just having to wear clothes I already have for my opening classes, most of which don't fit me well or don't suit me well, or look rather tatty which was part of why I was making new ones, argh... 

white-rabbit_2-2

@Laura_Elsewhere sorry to hear you’ve had Lyme disease it’s horrible! I haven’t had it but a friend did and they lost all of their energy!

@Cherryfudge just one biscuit or is a packet acceptable? That’s possibly what’s got me in this mess…. I love comfort food and now the nights are drawing in a cup of tea and a biscuit does just the trick! 

Thinking about getting out my winter skirts again for work…. But then I will have to wear tights… does anyone else hate them as much as I do??

Laura_Elsewhere

@white-rabbit_2-2, I live in skirts and I loathe tights so much I refuse to wear them... I wear stockings but not the sexy useless nbylon 'hold-ups that cut your leg off unless you're a twig - I wear a range I've accumulated over the years, a few pairs of fine-wool stockings, but my new cotton ones are (bizarrely!) Tesco children's school-tights cut off at the hip to make two stockings long enough to go right the way up my very long, wide legs - gawd knows what they fit like on an 11-yr-old child... mostly I hold them up with garters I made, which are comfortable and practical and *work*, but they are all long enough to wear with a suspender-belt - again, it's a practical and comfortable one (I bought it from SwankyPins online). 
Most people's experience of "stockings" is awful nylon ones attached to a rubbish little one-size belt intended to be worn for ten minutes whilst lying down... But if you get a decent belt, and decent cotton stockings, then it's a whole other world. 
I also have linen shorts I added a wide crochet-lace edge to, to wear under skirts year-round... and petticoats, oh how much cosier the world is with proper petticoats!  

Cherryfudge

white-rabbit_2-2 said:

@Cherryfudge just one biscuit or is a packet acceptable? That’s possibly what’s got me in this mess…. I love comfort food and now the nights are drawing in a cup of tea and a biscuit does just the trick! 

Thinking about getting out my winter skirts again for work…. But then I will have to wear tights… does anyone else hate them as much as I do??

Just help yourself! One advantage of the biscuits here is how remarkably low in calories they are...  

I've noticed a trend towards wearing leggings under skirts, instead of tights. They're a lot more robust, and with boots and socks, is anyone going to know the difference? That said, I have to wear trousers for work, and it's always overheated so perhaps I ought to swap around and wear leggings at work (with a baggy uniform top they work quite well) then keep the leggings on at home but add a big skirt. The difficulty there is that my waist won't allow most of my skirts. I think it's time I went through my wardrobe and found those items I've not worn in ages and passed them on to a new home.

skogar

Leggings socks and ankle boots here with dresses. Warmer and last much longer than tights and I hate having cold feet.

white-rabbit_2-2

@Cherryfudge @Laura_Elsewhere @skogar you’ve introduced me to a world I had no idea about! 

I don’t have good legs so leggings have have never been an option but under a long skirt sounds good! As for hold ups… you are so right about the nylon hold ups… the work of the devil. How does a suspenders belt work with a pencil skirt…? Am I being madly thick… 🤣🤣🤣

Laura_Elsewhere

I think my thighs must be made of sandpaper as I go through leggings in a matter of weeks...  maybe because I often walk several miles a day trotting round to and from the shops and so on... 

Cherryfudge

white-rabbit_2-2 said:

How does a suspenders belt work with a pencil skirt…? Am I being madly thick… 🤣🤣🤣

One of life's great mysteries!

Laura_Elsewhere

Cherryfudge said:

white-rabbit_2-2 said:

How does a suspenders belt work with a pencil skirt…? Am I being madly thick… 🤣🤣🤣

One of life's great mysteries!

It works the same as for any skirt... I mean if it's incredibly thin fabric with a shiny surface in a pale colour yes, you have tiny little bumps of the clips if someone stares, but I've never really gone for the ice-blue-satin pencil skirt look myself...   

CapricornLass

White rabbit, welcome.  You can have my biscuit, if you like. ( I'm gluten free and allergic to nuts and coconut, so have to be very careful.) 

I loathe tights and stockings too, and haven't really worn them for the past 17 years or so.  Fortunately I worked in IT infrastructure, which meant you could be crawling around on the floor showing your knickers, in a server room with the temperature set to suit the kit, not humans - it could be very cold! - or striding around in dense undergrowth tracing ducts, so trouser suits or trousers and smart jacket, with socks and boots were de rigeur!.  The dresses and skirts only came out when the temperature hit 25C and I could go barelegged in sandals (and was in the office all day).