2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

I'd be interested to know the details: presumably it's the heel of outer footwear, not socks or tights, for instance? And do items have to be sent away to be mended?
France to pay bonus for shoes and clothing repairs to cut waste (lemonde.fr)

That is a brilliant idea.  Well done France.  (Thanks for the link @Cherryfudge )

It’s been quite a couple of weeks for us. Last month, the matriarch of the Clan had a stroke and died, so last week we did quick trip to Scotland for her funeral.  She was 96 and had gradually got more frail and confused over the last decade.  (We last saw her pre-Pandemic, in 2019, and she was struggling then.  Two years earlier, she was life-and-soul of her 90th birthday party.).  My employer was great - gave me 2 days compassionate leave - even though, she wasn’t a blood relation.  (She is DH’s best friend’s mother.  They’re like brothers and she always called DH her “other son”. Best friend is known as DH’s “brother from another mother” or BFAM and vice-versa in best friend’s family). Drove up Thursday, funeral was Friday, drove home Saturday in convoy with BFAM, because we had tickets to Sunday’s NFL game at Wembley.

I also have a friend staying from Australia who, fortunately, was in Ireland last week when we went to the funeral and came home on the Friday night.  She joined us at the NFL match.

This week, 2 colleagues tested positive for Covid, and didn’t come into the office for our regular Tuesday visit.  Wednesday night, I had a bit of a scratchy throat so decided to test first thing Thursday morning, before going to the office again.  Tested negative. Since we’re due to go on holiday, DH decided he’d test too, but forgot until after he’d had his first sip of coffee.  (He also has a positive Covid colleague.)  He drove to his office and then tested positive, twice (in case one was wrong).  We both headed home, and I caught my friend just before she was about to head out.  She also tested positive.

We were due to head off on holiday today, so both DH and I have tested again.  He’s still positive; I’m still negative.  (My friend hasn’t emerged yet.). DH has cold symptoms and has spent the last 2 days wearing a jumper, so he’s definitely ill.  (He never feels the cold unless he’s sick.)

We were meant to be heading to Wales today.  A group of us have booked a large house for the week.  I reckon we’ll go on Monday, but it depends on the sickies.  Next weekend, we’re home for one night then heading to Normandy for a week, with a different group of friends.  I will confess now that I plan to go visit the Caen branch of my favourite boutique.  If they have a decent suit in stock, in my size, I will buy it and any relevant accessories.  (When I bought my grey suit from them, I got a jacket, 2 skirts, 1 pair of trousers, a hat and a wrap.  The jacket has thin white stripes, forming a hatchet pattern with large grey squares, so has one of the skirts.  The trousers and the other skirt are both plain grey, while the hat and wrap combine both colours.

- Pip.  

maryb

I posted a link a couple of weeks ago to the C40 cities report which suggested we should be limited to three or at most eight new items of clothing a year.  I’ve just found this report by a government funded group of academics and published by Cambridge University about getting to absolute zero. 

https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/75916920-51f6-4f9c-ade5-52cbf55d5e73/content

 It doesn’t mention clothing rationing per se but wants to get rid of all beef and lamb production so says leather would not be available.  It wants us to wash our clothes less often and buy clothes that don’t need ironing.  But given that it suggests the closure of all airports and cessation of all shipping, it’s hard to see how we could clothe ourselves in anything other than nettle fibre!!

I find myself coming over all Four Yorkshiremen - three items of clothing?  Yer don’t know yer born!

Cherryfudge

oh @PipneyJane, what a time you've been having. I'm sorry to hear your clan has lost their matriarch. A treasured person, I can tell. Their memory is bound to live on 'in song and story'.

And the Covid - I hope it soon runs its course and you're all able to holiday as planned. As for buying suits - I'm not sure British ration coupons are counted abroad?

Cherryfudge

@maryb, I wonder if it's time to buy shares in nettle fibre?  

I'm short of time to look into your link just yet, but I wonder whether pork production is also listed? Surely that's huge and also a source of leather, though a significant number of people don't use pig products.

And as textiles are such massive contributors to our present/future situations, a sea change in consumption is going to be necessary (I try to wash less and buy second hand but I have my limits   - and I'm afraid I do iron).

Off the top of my head, new purchases this year have been 6 pairs of socks, two work shirts, three pairs of knickers and three pairs of shoes. That's the next couple of years spent up, then. However, rationing was based on size not number of garments, which is important. Technically, one sock is a garment, and so is one overcoat. In some way, quantity and type of fabric, as well as exposure to wear and tear, need to be taken into account.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, you poor thing- well, collection of poor things. My sympathies for the loss of your Matriarch- a few years ago the Matriarch on EACH side of my family died, mid-90s on one side, and late-70s on other side, on the same day in late December. It is a strange thing, I found, because you mourn the loss of the individual person in your life, but there was also an unexpected sensation of the loss of the role, iyswim- suddenly my parents are each the Oldest Member of the Family, on each side, and that feels very strange. 
Not as strange as my becoming older than my sister. That felt very very strange as one of her many bullying behaviours revolved round being the oldest... suddenly she wasn't and I was... or am I now an 'only child'? Family dynamics are very peculiar things... 
I hope you and visiting-Aus escape Covid or at least have it rapidly and mildly, and that your DH recovers asap and fully. My Aged Ps had their new vaccines on Thursday and my husband is having his this afternoon.... and we've carefully booked the last available time-slot in hopes that they had a no-show earlier today so may have a spare dose; he will ask if they do, and then I can nip in from the carpark to be stabbed too  

I am back to travelling up and down the country for five weeks to teach the evening classes; both trains this week were very empty, so I felt ok bare-faced, but if any of my trains are crowded, I have got my masks packed where I can very easily get them to put one on. Lots of people around and about wearing them already. And I have dozens fo friends who have come down with it of late, and although not truly ghastly (for an otherwise-fit person) it certainly doesn't sound like a walk in the park, and is still best avoided, we reckon. 


@maryb, we'll be ok then, come the Great Nettle Sewing-Bee- the great Sally Pointer lives in Herefordshire - do I remember correctly that you are south Shropshire? - so we'd be in the right area for learning nettle-processing skills to clothe ourselves I can make string thus far, but not sure that would really be right for weaving- perhaps I could knit it? Nettle jumpers  

maryb

London suburbs but there’s plenty of nettle in my back garden 

CapricornLass

@PipneyJane, I'm sorry to hear of the death of the Matriarch.   And then to go down with covid and lose part of your holiday!  I hope you both get better soon, and at least get to Caen, even if you don't manage Wales.

I have a purchase to declare: a long sleeved T-shirt from M&S that I bought on holiday.  My excuse is that its the right shade of green for me, although I do have a couple of old T-shirts where the fabric is wearing out.  5 coupons, I think.

CapricornLass

P.S, you can buy clothes made from nettle fibre, and I've seen nettle 'wool' for sale, too, though I've never used it.  So it must be possible to make your own.

MrsCD

@PipneyJane, so sorry to hear of all you're going through. Sending lots of virtual hugs and hoping you keep well.

PollyWollyDoodle

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend @PipneyJane, and about covid.  Anecdotally (here and on other forums) it seems that a lot of people have it. I'm due to  be vaccinated next Saturday, hoping I can avoid it till then. 

I haven't had a chance to read the links yet, but I don't think air travel is ever likely to be eliminated so I'm guessing that one is probably an extreme view.  Just come back  from holiday so once the laundry is dry I'll be reviewing my summer clothes and deciding if anything is too worn to be worth keeping for next year. I'm enjoying the autumn sunshine but I actually enjoy the slightly cooler weather.  I'm looking forward to getting my boots and woollies out!