2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

MrsCD

That's a beautiful dress. It's very well thought out and is a credit to the mother. Although I thought the 4 year old looked older than her years!

PollyWollyDoodle

A lovely story. 

What are people's thoughts on 'de-bobbling'?  I have a much loved cardigan which is so bobbly it's only fit for home use. I've got a little comb thing somewhere and I keep seeing adverts on FB for an electric device that does this, but I can't help feeling it must weaken the fabric. Any views (yes @Laura_Elsewhere I'm looking at you, as our resident expert on all things fabric related!)

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere said:

Here's a lovely example from the V&A, with the full story, about how one mother managed a party frock for her little girl in 1940, despite clothes rationing...

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O98190/party-frock-unknown/

That is a lovely story.  It's also lovely that they have photos of the little girl and that the dress was donated by her mum, who made it.

@PollyWollyDoodle said:

A lovely story. 

What are people's thoughts on 'de-bobbling'?  I have a much loved cardigan which is so bobbly it's only fit for home use. I've got a little comb thing somewhere and I keep seeing adverts on FB for an electric device that does this, but I can't help feeling it must weaken the fabric. Any views (yes @Laura_Elsewhere I'm looking at you, as our resident expert on all things fabric related!)

I have a battery operated "bobble shaver", which I use infrequently.  I knitted one of my favourite jumpers in Sublime Organic DK, which was lovely to knit with but forms bobbles just by looking at it.  I carefully shave it every winter.

FWIW, the Knitmore Girls talk about a "gleaner", which they use on their knits.  I've not seen one in action.

I need advice, please:  my long down-filled Uniqlo puffer-coat has developed a persistent hole on the outside of the right sleeve, by the elbow.  (It's the same as this one, and was purchased in November 2017 for £95.)  I stitched up the original hole, a month ago, and it's torn beside/below my stitching and is shedding down everywhere.  What is the best way to repair it?   The fabric is nylon and I still have the bag to stuff it in.  (My DH calls it my "sleeping bag coat".)  I'm thinking elbow patches made from the bag but I'm worried that the nylon is friable and will just rip beside any stitching.

Thoughts? Suggestions?  All welcome.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PollyWollyDoodle - eek, no pressure then!  

tbh, and unhelpfully, I don't really know... I agree, I think pulling the bobbling off weakens the fabric as it's removing fibres (much like tumble-drying, when you look at the pile of fluff in the filter and it's the same colour as the towels or clothing you just dried...!).

I know bobbling (or pilling as it's often called now) is something that used to happen too but generally I think much much less and to a lesser degree, presumably because of changes to modern textiles being made in cheaper ways that mean the fibres are looser and detach more easily - that's definitely the case with knitting because some yarns that pill horribly can be knitted more tightly and the pilling reduces - otoh, I did knit socks once with a big-brand wool-rich yarn and they were literally covered in bobbles after one handwash - they started bobbling whilst I was knitting them!! Never bought their yarn since... 

If you have a steady hand and a steady nerve then cutting the bobbles would cause less weakening than pulling them off - I've heard of people using a men's electric razor for the purpose... if you know someone who has a shaver they never use (all those lockdown-beards!), maybe try that on an inconspicuous area? I think the electric things are basically just a less efficient smaller version of a men's shaver, so...  


To reduce bobbling, the two things I'd suggest would be to wash it inside-out, always, with minimal agitation ie a wool cycle or the very brief rinse cycles (I use our 19-minute cold-water 'rinse' cycle with its 1400rpm spin for all my knitted stuff, wool doesn't need detergent). The other thing is to really reduce how often it needs washed - when you take it iff, hang it inside-out on a hanger somewhere to air overnight, and squeeze cuffs and waist to push any ribbing back into shape. Spot-clean any sploggles or splashes with a damp cloth, and if you do think it starts smelling a bit stale, then spritz the armpits and lower back (on the inside!) with a fine mist-spray of vodka! 
You should be able to reduce washing to just once or twice a year that way. But a lot of textiles bobble just from wear - mine used to get positively threadbare under the arms where my upper arms moved against my torso... not much you can do with that! 

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

I need advice, please:  my long down-filled Uniqlo puffer-coat has developed a persistent hole on the outside of the right sleeve, by the elbow.  (It's the same as this one, and was purchased in November 2017 for £95.)  I stitched up the original hole, a month ago, and it's torn beside/below my stitching and is shedding down everywhere.  What is the best way to repair it?   The fabric is nylon and I still have the bag to stuff it in.  (My DH calls it my "sleeping bag coat".)  I'm thinking elbow patches made from the bag but I'm worried that the nylon is friable and will just rip beside any stitching.

Thoughts? Suggestions?  All welcome.

- Pip

Hmmm, that's a bit of a facer.... the problem is probably that nylon (and many similar synthetics) degrade under UV light, and so the areas most exposed - outside of arms, tops of shoulders, top of chest - tend to become very friable. 

I think I would have a good look at the coat in general and see if other areas are showing signs of weakness. Then decide how much you love it. If you want to keep it going, then take it into town and go to cheap sports shops and try to buy a cheap thin nylon shell jacket thing in a similar shade, or (more likely) a toning shade, a few shades darker usually would work better. Then cut that up so that you have enough to add large new covering areas but done symmetrically and boldly so it looks like an original design feature, maybe diagonal edges, even a contrast piping. Catch-stitch the new one down into the original stitching channels at quarter-inch intervals to hold it down. 
Once you've done that (or your local independent alterations place has done it!) follow the directions to hand-wash it, and as it dries, very very carefully use a hairdryer and something pointy-but-blunt like a 6mm knitting needle to smooth the new nylon into the stitching channels so it lies into a proper V as if it always was there. Synthetics usually have a heat-based shape-'memory' so if you 'arrange' the fabric whilst it's warmed, and keep it like that as it cools, then it should stay there. 

Edit to add: other sources of very cheap decent thin nylon - buy fabric online, or buy one of those very cheap "pop-up" tents sold for Glastonbury and the like, often in bold prints or colours if you wanted those. But you want it thin and lightweight with a decently-close weave to it. 

PipneyJane

Thanks for the feedback, @Laura_Elsewhere.   If the nylon is friable, it will go elsewhere, soon enough.

I am seriously wondering whether to bite-the-bullet and just buy a replacement in the sales. It has lasted 7 winters. Do you know what is stopping me?  I don't want to spend the coupons.  (14)  I have the money. (I set a small amount aside every month for my clothing allowance.)

- Pip




ETA:  bullet bit.  £79.90 paid plus 14 coupons.  It'll arrive Friday.

Hodgepodge

Just 6 coupons used on a pair of wide leg trousers in the sale.

Also bought a pack of bralettes but they are going back. They are my size but won't keep my puppies under control!! 

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - if you are chucking the coat in textile-rag-recycling at your local tip, then if I were you I'd extract some of the down first - even if all you use it for is to stuff it loosely into a spare pillowcase and stitch the end closed, you'll have a gloriously cosy foot-duvet  

Consider the coupons over the expected life of the coat - if you get half a decade's wear out of it then that's not bad for the 14 coupons, is it? 

PollyWollyDoodle

That’s the power of couponing, @PipneyJane! 😄  I think if it’s seen you through seven winters, it owes you nothing. If you divide the price by number of times worn, it must be quite a low figure. 

Thank you for such a detailed reply, Laura. Given that much-loved cardie was heading for the rag bag, I decided I had nothing to lose. I hunted around and found the little comb thingy I knew I had somewhere. It looks much better, so I may get another season out of it. 

You make a good point about washing clothes. I used to be a “wear it once and then wash it” person but that changed a long while ago. Washing wears your clothes out faster than wearing them. As I don’t do manual labour or wear everyday clothes for exercise, they don’t need washing every time, and I try and air things out and sponge off marks, as you suggest*. I haven’t tried the vodka trick though. Interestingly, if you look at the website for Community Clothing they recommend that their jeans, for example, are washed as infrequently as possible. 

*I hasten to add - I don’t apply this rule to underwear!  

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane - if you are chucking the coat in textile-rag-recycling at your local tip, then if I were you I'd extract some of the down first - even if all you use it for is to stuff it loosely into a spare pillowcase and stitch the end closed, you'll have a gloriously cosy foot-duvet  

Consider the coupons over the expected life of the coat - if you get half a decade's wear out of it then that's not bad for the 14 coupons, is it? 

My thoughts exactly.   The down is much too nice to lose.  I may yet attempt to make patches from the storage bag, but I know they'll be temporary.

It's just painful being 24 coupons down at this point of the year.  Still, I have to remember that, later in the War, our sisters were only issued with 42 coupons.

- Pip