2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

flamingo747

Hell would freeze over before the very wealthy who travel excessively allow that. However, I do believe there will eventually be something like a carbon footprint passport  and flights will be limited to a maximum number of air miles per year. But then I expect there will be some sort of system where you can buy other people's miles. I have 4 flights I'll end the year on, despite it being a total flying time of only 6 hours. That'll take my lifetime flying to 9 hours 😆 the only benefit of having very little money is ny carbon footprint 

Cherryfudge

My sister in law was in one of those jobs where people flew to meetings, and it was an eye-opener to see something of how much flying that entailed. It was one continent to another, though when possible she would tag a holiday on to the end of a business trip which saved extra travel. Multiply that by the thousands (or millions?) of people who fly because of work meetings, and there's got to be an impact.

I wish we had learned from lockdown, though, that a lot can be done virtually. There's value in seeing people face to face but it isn't necessary.

Laura_Elsewhere

Hurrah, not only did Mr E get his covid vaccine yesterday but so did I, AND they did our flu shots while we were there, so all four shoulders are stiff today!
I also managed to fall over the kerb on the way in, so they kindly cleaned up my elbow which was dripping blood untidily, and drenched it in iodine and popped a dressing on- it's visibly on its way to healing nicely today on soaking off the dressing. I've left it open with some Savlon on to stop it drying. 

I am really really looking forward to the colder weather... my present-to-self most years is to make myself something over Xmas and New Year, and my little fingerless mitts have worn through, so I am planning to induilge myself then... 
I've just finished using up some undyed-cream Shetland laceweight in crocheting myself an 'Edlothia' shawl; I managed to finish knitting my elderly dad's neck-cosy cowl and have started mum's... 

Cherryfudge

Great bit of planning, using an end of the day slot to try for your vaccines. I hope the shoulders forgive you soon!

skogar

Having come back from holiday and aware of the small number of things we take most of which are years old 3 new items a year sound quite feasible in terms of time to wear out , but would need extra pants and socks.

However the suggestion to ban leather production may not be completely fair. Lederhosen were made of hardwearing leather and lasted for a long time as they were made from good quality fairly thick leather. From some accounts they were not always worn with underwear so less clothing to wear out there too!

Gem-gem

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend @PipneyJane. 

@Laura_Elsewhere I feel for you and your elbow. I was tripped up a month ago and fell down a curb. My shin and soft tissue damage in both feet is still heeling (and painful). 

One spend to report. I x navy merino wool jumper. 20% reduced at H0bb$. Does that mean that I get a 20% reduction in coupons used 😁😆

Spend 2023:

5 x jumpers 30

3 x 3/4 length trousers 18

2 x summer top 10

1 x slippers 5

4 x vests 12

Coupons Spent 75/66

skogar

Very nice Gem Gem - a nice navy wool jumper is currently on my wish list - however I am still looking for the right one. It's difficult to work out how thick they are when you see them online - the ones I thought might be suitable were thinner than what I wanted. Hope yours is perfect for what you want.

Gem-gem

skogar said:

Very nice Gem Gem - a nice navy wool jumper is currently on my wish list - however I am still looking for the right one. It's difficult to work out how thick they are when you see them online - the ones I thought might be suitable were thinner than what I wanted. Hope yours is perfect for what you want.

It is thinner than they used to be but it will go nicely under my gilet. I see it as an autumn jumper but itself and one that you can layer up with a cardigan. I already have a very thick navy jumper that I bought this year. This one will replay a Laura Ashley that I had worn for around 15 years and have washed the guts out if it. Last year after one days wearing it looked awful. I will only use it around the home. It has also faded over time. 

PipneyJane

Gem-gem said:

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend @PipneyJane. 

@Laura_Elsewhere I feel for you and your elbow. I was tripped up a month ago and fell down a curb. My shin and soft tissue damage in both feet is still heeling (and painful). 

One spend to report. I x navy merino wool jumper. 20% reduced at H0bb$. Does that mean that I get a 20% reduction in coupons used 😁😆

Spend 2023:

5 x jumpers 30

3 x 3/4 length trousers 18

2 x summer top 10

1 x slippers 5

4 x vests 12

Coupons Spent 75/66

Thanks @Gem-gem.  Ouchie about falling down a curb.  Ditto re @Laura_Elsewhere’s elbow.  Not certain I mentioned in last year’s thread about falling out of a colleague’s car and landing on my left hip?  Very painful - I was black and blue - but, since I was off to the Commonwealth Games a few days later and it didn’t hurt to stand on, I decided that I didn’t want to get it investigated at the time.  When I finally saw my GP about it - months later - she was “well, there’s no after effects, so not worth risking an x-ray” but I can’t prove either way whether I broke it.

I’m confined to barracks, having finally tested positive for Covid on Wednesday, after feeling rubbish on Monday afternoon/all day Tuesday. (I tested negative on Monday; stayed in bed most of Tuesday so didn’t bother testing.) Am slowly going stir crazy.  Have just finished reading “Women’s Lives and Clothes in WW2: Ready for Action” by Lucy Addlington.  Fascinating.  I was much taken by one passage:

“If women weren’t knitting, they’d taken up a crochet hook, transforming yarn into blankets and shawls of many colours. Wool was often supplied by the indefatigable Red Cross, with knitting circles setting targets for how many items they could produce. The wool was precious and expensive. The price of a ball of wool in England shot up from 4d to 3s 6d; knitting a jumper cost about £ 3, roughly £ 75 in modern money.” (Page 55)

I’m not certain the author is a knitter.  She certainly isn’t someone like me, who prefers to knit in natural fibres, because when I look at the last few jumpers I’ve knitted, the yarn alone cost between £50 and £80 per jumper, for pure wool, commercially available yarns.  Yes, I can knit a jumper out of 3 balls of 4-ply sock yarn for less than £30 - and my current project is one of those - but that is for a fitted top, to be worn under my suit jacket, and not for a jumper to be worn as the top layer of clothing.

Now to get off my soapbox. 

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, whether she's a knitter or not, I'm not sure she quite understands how it all worked in the War, despite authoring a book on it... yes, the Red Cross provided wool, but NOT for blankets or shawls of many colours! 
Wool was provided officially (not sure by whom, but Red Cross certainly likely) but it was ordered by exact weight, and you had to send back that exact weight. If you were sent 9oz and you used 8 7/8oz you needed to send back not only all the socks but you MUST send back the 1/8oz of leftover wool. 
And it was only in khaki or the two blues. 

So the knitting circles, afaik, were not buying any wool; most producers made no non-Forces wool at all for the duration and even for a while after. 

She's got a bit muddled, I think. 

But otoh to be fair, I think she probably has got it right re jumpers because a woman's jumper at the time was very often a short-sleeved, fitted, fine-knit jumper intended to be worn beneath a jacket. Normal clothing outside summer for an adult was very often a skirt and jacket suit worn over a thin jumper, with or without a matching cardigan (the famous twin-set). Rural women wore it, urban women wore it, working women wore it, housewives wore it... there were dresses, but they were much more a summer garment. 
In cold weather, you might wear a fine-wool vest next the skin, but over the brassiere (some vests were hip-length; some were worn with long-leg knickers in fine wool, which of course had washable cotton-fabric 'liners' in the crotch, like gym-knickers did, which never seems to be mentioned when modern people are busy getting horrified by the concept of wearing the same knickers for 2-3 days- but they were more like wearing modern chub-rub shorts over briefs, and nobody thinks you need to wash those shorts every single day so long as you change the briefs).
Over your woollen undies, you had a washable blouse, perhaps cotton or silk or linen or one of the new rayon-type synthetics, and the fine-wool jumper over that, and its little cardigan. The blouse might not show, or it might have a little collar intended to show, but the jumper was not supposed to be against the skin. The blouse was tucked into your skirt, and you would have lisle-thread (cotton) stockings and leather lace-up shoes, although for a special occasion you might wear your treasured pair of silk or nylon stockings, any of them held up by a belt, ie suspender belt, but generally only ever called "a belt" at the time. 
So your torso might have vest, jumper, cardigan- 3 layers of knitted fine-wool, 3-ply or thereabouts, with a silk or cotton blouse in there too, plus the wool fabric of your jacket, and often in winter a coat worn over the jacket, like a man's overcoat is worn over his suit jacket. 

Three knitted wool layers, one silk or cotton fabric layer, one wool fabric layer, and possibly a lined coat over the lot.