2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

tbh, 5 coupons seems a lot for a t-shirt- would it not be a man's vest which is 4? 
'pinafore' I *think* means a bib-apron, so not much fabric, but also minimal sewing; a waistcoat involves less fabric but a *lot* of detailed sewing, buttonholes, lining, welted pockets and so on... 


I have *Had Enough* of not making things for myself. I don't know what's happened or why, but I haven't made anything for myself except yet another shawl this year. It's a lovely shawl but normally I'd have replaced a cardigan with a new, nicer, hand-knitted one, and knitted a slipover and some socks. Nothing. And no sewing. 

So I've co-opted Mr E to help, and we are *making* me make things. I'm starting with a simple black linen sleeveless pull-over-head dress (basically a gored skirt attached to a camisole top, if that makes sense). I can wear it as a sundress in summer, but primarily wear it year-round with various fitted little cardigans or slipovers to give shape, and with blouses or t-shirts underneath it. 


I have to do SOMETHING to get me sewing and knitting again... 

thriftwizard

@Cherryfudge I suspect a gent's waistcoat would have been made of pure wool (though lined with something else) but a pinafore would most likely have been cotton. A fluffy gilet is probably synthetic? As the coupons for synthetic fibres are half what natural fibres "cost" perhaps @CapricornLass's gilet might be half a waistcoat, which would be the closest style of garment, i..e. 2½ coupons?

CapricornLass

Yes, the gilet is synthetic.  

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

@Cherryfudge I suspect a gent's waistcoat would have been made of pure wool (though lined with something else) but a pinafore would most likely have been cotton. A fluffy gilet is probably synthetic? As the coupons for synthetic fibres are half what natural fibres "cost" perhaps @CapricornLass's gilet might be half a waistcoat, which would be the closest style of garment, i..e. 2½ coupons?

A boy’s waistcoat was 3 coupons.  I suggest we go with 3 coupons for a gilet, since they are basically a sleeveless cardigan/fleece-jacket.  Does everyone concur?

@Laura_Elsewhere, I hope you get your mojo back.

Hope tonight’s “cold spell” doesn’t make things too chilly where you are.  Yesterday, when I was WFH, I broke out the Ugg boots.  It’s definitely cold enough for them now.  On the plus side, they prevented me scratching the remaining bites on my legs from France, which really should have settled down by now.  I still don’t know what bit me, but I’m 99% certain it isn’t bed bugs because they never touched DH.  (And nothing appears to have come home with us - no bloody marks on the bedding or any of the other signs they’re around.). I’m using industrial sized tubes of Eurax cream (Crotamiton 10%) to suppress the itches.

- Pip

dND

@PipneyJane By the time I left SW France this year the tiger mosquitos were everywhere and I think they interbred with the 'native' mozzies.  A few years back there were only small brown ones that you could hear humming around you.  Over the last years there were larger black ones that sometimes had the striping on their legs like the tiger mosquito but were smaller than the tiger ones.  These would hang around on the ceiling and then drop on you silently!!
With the warming climate here it won't be long before they'll cross the channel and fully establish here.
I can only suggest a daily dose of antihistamine to stop the itching and G3rmolene because of it's anaesthetic property.  

Laura_Elsewhere

I agree with 3 coupons for a gilet...

...but... I know knitting yarn was half the coupons during the war for synthetic, but I'm not sure about applying that to everything else. After all, we're trying to save money and resources, rather than trying to recreate 1942 life  

Fabrics with more synthetic fibres wear out faster - cf modern jeans that start wearing out in about three weeks flat! - and so buying natural fibres means clothes last longer so need replacing less frequently, plus when you wash them they aren't shedding microplastics... so I'm not at all sure about making natural fibres twice the price in coupons! It feels counter to some of what we're trying to do, running counter to the idea of encouraging the buying of clothes that don't wear out quickly! 
We all do buy synthetic stuff, of course (I must add new knickers to my coupon-spending tally! We had vouchers to use up at Sainsbury's, and they had really pretty knicks, almost completely synthetic...) but I think actively encouraging it by making it all half the coupon-cost of natural fibres is not how I see the challenge, at any rate... 

Cherryfudge

I'm happy with a gilet being 3 coupons, sounds reasonable.

Thiftwizard's comment on waistcoats probably being woollen whilst pinafores were probably cotton made me wonder how Britain managed to import cotton during the war. I can't find anything online (though there's a nice cine film from a Lancashire cotton mill in 1942). Britain's always had sheep but I don't think we've grown our own cotton - surely there was a huge cost in terms of danger to bring it across the ocean? So in some way wool would have been more accessible.

@Laura_Elsewhere, you have a good point about the relative values of synthetics and natural fibres then and now. Without inside knowledge of why they were different coupons values in those days, it's hard for me to make an absolute comparison but the war we wage is against the profligate consumption that British society in general has come to see as a norm - with a side order of being informed, inventive and saving a bob or two. I love learning about techniques and trying to rise to the challenge of keeping things going.

Talking of keeping things going, have you seen this?

PollyWollyDoodle

Ooh that’s food for thought, @Cherryfudge. I have never liked pleather, mainly because in my experience it starts to crack and feels unpleasantly sticky.  Even when I was vegetarian for some years, I still bought leather shoes and bags with a rather fuzzy (and unresearched) idea that leather was a by-product from meat production anyway. 

Yet another reason to buy secondhand. 

maryb

I did a one day course last week on invisible mending.  It was fun though we only did mending holes in stocking stitch.  I was a bit spatially challenged on the day and could not get my head around doing duplicate stitch over more than one row - I kept bringing the needle out in the wrong place.  I’m doing a part 2 in January which will cover holes in rib and edges.  Looking forward to it

2Scratters

It pleased me to see on the news yesterday how Liverpool City has chosen to recycle/repurpose the banners from the Euro vision and sell the repurposed items made on for Children in Need. Its a great start to make others think.
Cotton may be a better choice for the next event.

I have managed to pull back an unfinished knitted jumper my mother had made many moons ago(for an 8/9 year old boy maybe). It has now gone towards growing 2 chrochet blankets.

2 Scratters xx