2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

CAFCGirl

Cherryfudge said:

I think someone may have started on the same pattern as you : Lion Brand Vanna's Glamour Yarn 8 Skeins ~ Colors 6 Onyx & 2 topaz NEW | eBay

However, if you aren't doing black, I think you're going to have to do what I did with The Jumper: work out weight and length of yarn required then start trawling the net. I think one of the colours you prefer would be great.

I think so too! LOL

I've worked out weight and yardage required for a few different brands which have colours I'm considering. I might venture into Boyes and check their yarn, and see some colours in the flesh, perhaps opt for a cheaper yarn for my first attempt.

Laura_Elsewhere

The problem with using a cheaper yarn for a first attempt - or for learning, for that matter! - is that a cheap yarn will magnify and emphasise any unevenness or mistakes, where a decent yarn will often 'bloom' when you wash it after finishing and help to disguise those things. 

I learnt that lesson too with fabric - I made a new-to-me pattern in cheap fabric and as a result the dress looked truly dreadful, hanging limply and unevenly and just looking like all the things that give home-dressmaking a bad name! Then I made it again in a reasonably-priced decent fabric and it was a whole different pattern. And because of the awful way the fabric sat sullenly I couldn't even learn anything useful from the first effort! Eventually that one was dismantled for a friend's mum to use as a pattern for making her one like it, and I cut out pieces in a good cream viscose lining to 'underline' each piece to give it some body - the fabric's pattern was nice and the colours, it's just that it fell about flimsily, so underlining should give it a bit of support. Needless to say I haven't done the re-assembly yet... about five years after cutting the cream viscose...! 

MoneysavingmadGem

Dropping into the village hall, had a couple days away to sort family problems...

I moved in nov and had a sort out of wardrobe ... sadly covid has helped my tummy to expand slightly ... well let's say I can no longer squeeze into some of my tops and coats.
I had them stored at my nans .... so brought them back up to new place to see if I can repurchase them...

I have a fantastic cord coat that is too tight, might make a bag or skirt/pinafore from it somehow .... 

Any good books on repurposing clothes? 

I find I lack inspiration .... I'd hate to do the repurpose challenge on sewing bee! 

OWD_nana

Would love to join again this year please. Didnt do well last year, so thats behind me and will start again. Got far too many clothes already. Will need a pair of black loafers soon but nothing else really this year. Would like a black wool coat at some point too but not a need just a want.
Hoping to get motivation to sew more too.

Liverpool_Anne

Just dropped in to say one of the scarves I sent to a friend for her birthday was much appreciated and I must say I was quite pleased with it myself, though only a scarf it gave me a sense of achievement that will spurn me on to try other things hopefully
Take care everyone

PipneyJane

Hi Everyone.

Welcome @OWD_nana and anyone else I haven't spoken to previously.  Please have a (virtual) mince pie.  They're zero calories.

Liverpool_Anne said:

Just dropped in to say one of the scarves I sent to a friend for her birthday was much appreciated and I must say I was quite pleased with it myself, though only a scarf it gave me a sense of achievement that will spurn me on to try other things hopefully
Take care everyone

Glad to hear it.  Well done, Anne.

I have a disaster to report.  You know how we've talked previously about the quality of modern cashmere knitted items and how really cheap cashmere seems to dissolve in the wash?  Well, it's happened to me.  In the June 2017 sales, I bought two cashmere knitted dresses from Jaeger; one grey, one navy blue. (Including P&P, they cost £126.45.) They look a bit like overgrown jumpers, with zips at the cuffs.  Wore the blue one to a carol service the weekend before Christmas, together with thermal tights and my knee-high riding-style boots. When I hung it up after I washed it last week, I discovered two holes in the hip area.  Looks like the fibre just dissolved.     

I don't think I've worn either dress more than a dozen times.  Not impressed.  I'm going to try to pull the edges together with a running thread and see if that's sufficient to hide the holes, while not drawing attention to the mend.

They're usually stored in a plastic box, together with several of my handknits.  (I did inspect the box contents for moths and there were no signs.)

No wonder Jaeger went bust!  

- Pip

thriftwizard

I've just evicted one of my cashmere 50p bargains, @PipneyJane; not either of the good quality ones, but the latest mid-green High-St-store one. It's too big, a colour I don't really wear, and - just flimsy, compared to the better quality ones. I've slapped a fiver on it & put it on my local stall. (They sell for about £100 new, and this one did need a couple of tiny nicks mended, so I think the price is justified, although I'd never have paid the original price for it.) As a spinner, I can see a huge difference in the weight & composition of the yarn used; the fibres are much shorter, the twist is looser & it will pill & pull apart much more easily. I did consider felting it down, chopping it up & possibly making an embroidered waistcoat & fingerless gloves; may still do that if it doesn't sell quite swiftly. But at the end of the day, the quality just wasn't there - there's definitely Cashmere & cashmere!

Laura_Elsewhere

thriftwizard said:

I've just evicted one of my cashmere 50p bargains, @PipneyJane; not either of the good quality ones, but the latest mid-green High-St-store one. It's too big, a colour I don't really wear, and - just flimsy, compared to the better quality ones. I've slapped a fiver on it & put it on my local stall. (They sell for about £100 new, and this one did need a couple of tiny nicks mended, so I think the price is justified, although I'd never have paid the original price for it.) As a spinner, I can see a huge difference in the weight & composition of the yarn used; the fibres are much shorter, the twist is looser & it will pill & pull apart much more easily. I did consider felting it down, chopping it up & possibly making an embroidered waistcoat & fingerless gloves; may still do that if it doesn't sell quite swiftly. But at the end of the day, the quality just wasn't there - there's definitely Cashmere & cashmere!

Yes, if I wanted a cashmere item then I think I would either search and search for a really old vintage item - my first were two cardigans older than me which were beautifully-made but also feather-light, incredibly warm without being stifling and looked brand-new, sadly I became far too wide for them far too quickly and then the wretched moths got to them... 

But I would either look for pre-modern vintage ones, or else go to the Colourmart warehouse and ask their advice about long-staple cashmere. They have the bin-ends from the seriously top-end houses in Italy and Scotland, possibly the last companies using proper cashmere and not the cotton-processed stuff, so it would be worth asking (and if anyone else is signing up to buy yarn from them, let me know and I'll PM you my username and then you get credits and so do I!)

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

thriftwizard said:

I've just evicted one of my cashmere 50p bargains, @PipneyJane; not either of the good quality ones, but the latest mid-green High-St-store one. It's too big, a colour I don't really wear, and - just flimsy, compared to the better quality ones. I've slapped a fiver on it & put it on my local stall. (They sell for about £100 new, and this one did need a couple of tiny nicks mended, so I think the price is justified, although I'd never have paid the original price for it.) As a spinner, I can see a huge difference in the weight & composition of the yarn used; the fibres are much shorter, the twist is looser & it will pill & pull apart much more easily. I did consider felting it down, chopping it up & possibly making an embroidered waistcoat & fingerless gloves; may still do that if it doesn't sell quite swiftly. But at the end of the day, the quality just wasn't there - there's definitely Cashmere & cashmere!

Yes, if I wanted a cashmere item then I think I would either search and search for a really old vintage item - my first were two cardigans older than me which were beautifully-made but also feather-light, incredibly warm without being stifling and looked brand-new, sadly I became far too wide for them far too quickly and then the wretched moths got to them... 

But I would either look for pre-modern vintage ones, or else go to the Colourmart warehouse and ask their advice about long-staple cashmere. They have the bin-ends from the seriously top-end houses in Italy and Scotland, possibly the last companies using proper cashmere and not the cotton-processed stuff, so it would be worth asking (and if anyone else is signing up to buy yarn from them, let me know and I'll PM you my username and then you get credits and so do I!)

I do love Colourmart.  So far, though, I have resisted buying anything from them.  Maybe next year, when I've knitted up my 30 balls of yarn and not added to the stash.... (Who am I kidding?)

- Pip

nannygladys

I've never bought or worn anything cashmere, is it nice? I know it's usually out of my range!