2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

PipneyJane said:

To be fair @Laura_Elsewhere , the current pair date from 2019 and I have a pair in reserve for when these ones die.  I just have it in my head that I have to factor in replacing them every year, when I plan my clothes budget.  I may yet buy the DMs that I've been considering purchasing forever.

Get the DMs. There is no way you will regret it if you buy them, you have spare loafers if needed, your current pair isn't yet ready to dispose of and suppose in a few months' time you sprain an ankle and can't wear DMs? And then you have to wait ages till the ankle is strong enough, when you could have been wearing them all this time? Or suppose the government makes a special coupon rate whereby DMs are double the coupons? Or suppose the puddles-in-unusual-places persist and you are sitting in your office contemplating a lack of DMs, amid the general dreariness which could have been so much improved by the perfect footwear.

Please buy them. I'm getting quite emotional over the lack of DMs and thriftwizard has rehomed the embroidered hankies.

If I can find a pair I like, I will get the DMs, @Cherryfudge.  The difficulty is finding a plain black pair, since last time I went into one of their emporiums, every single pair had something in a bright contrasting colour (stitching or eyelets or some kind of trim), and that doesn't look professional.

My nursing shoes were DM's.  Incredibly comfortable, like walking on air.  Much more affordable on a student nurse's salary in Australia, than they were on an RGN's salary in the UK, so I never replaced them once I arrived here.*  Also, we wore brown while here everyone wore black.  

- Pip




* Even with the 1989 exchange rate of 2.5 and including London weighting while excluding shift allowances, my base pay was £2k more as a 21 year old student nurse in Australia than I did as a 23 year old, fully qualified, RGN in the UK.  (Don't get me started on the cost of living, which was more than double in the UK.  If I'd pay 50 cents for it in Oz, it'd cost £1 in the UK, without taking into account the exchange rate.)

2Scratters

@PipneyJane as they are a chosen "work uniform" that you have that chosen method for many a time surely that should be classed as uniform. (I love common sense). I bought preowned (barely a mark on them) DM's some time ago in Cherry Red and got my DH to dye them black and I used them for work for 4 years. Sadly with DM's you can't sole or heel them. 
Yay! to Thriftwizard and the hankies being rehomed.

2 Scratters xx

Cherryfudge

You are taking me right back to 1980s London, @PipneyJane! I think I left the year before you arrived but just the mention of it brings to mind that combination of red and black that was everywhere!

I can see vivid eyelets might catch the eye, and it would depend on your work setting whether they would look like work clothing or not... I'm trying to remember the name of the woman who used to be on TV in a business advisory role (I think) with the big bead necklaces... I guess I have a lot of leeway in work clothing, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane if you want properly-made shoes that can be re-heeled, re-soled and mended for decades, Andy Burke (who made my WONDERFUL shoes made to measure for each foot individually, oh such heaven) sells off-the-peg models from £140 which appears to be about the same price as DM shoes... 

https://www.andyburke.co.uk/modern.htm - that's his modern ones but check out his 18th, 19th and 20th century designs as well. Several of the men's designs are very close to DM shoes. Only better

He literally makes every pair by hand, and they are ALL intended to last for many years of frequent wear. 

For the same price as the ones now made in China, with frequent reports from my DM-adoring mates that they now fit very badly and fall apart, and which cannot be repaired in any way... 

Gem-gem

Another spend to declare: one linen summer top in the sale at my other favourite clothes shop. 5 coupons spent. Coupons Spent 57/66.    Left 9/66

Planned purchases still to make: trainers, bra and a vest. That I think will be my lot regarding new clothes. 

Thank goodness that I do not need a new coat this year. 

Laura_Elsewhere

I had a posh Boden skirt that cost me sixty quid about twenty years ago... I loved it but it always looked awful on me - just a strange design - but very lovely fabric, a soft pure-linen in a warm pale green with flowers... 

So now I have a camisole and I hope the rest will make me some knicks  
This is literally just the main part of the skirt, a front and back, with pieces cut from the top of each side-seam to make underarm-curves. Then I used a 1.75mm (old "2" in British sizes) hook and some vintage 'Cronita' thread to work the edging and beading, and with a bit of deep-cream ribbon, I have a camisole... 

Apologies for the crumpled linen - obviously it's been rolled up and held scrunched and so on while I was making it  

MrsCD

Oh that's so pretty, Laura!
I've been hunting bits of ribbons and buttons out for twiddle muffs that I've been asked to make. Never made one before but...does anyone know if they are made with an inside and outside? That is, two lots of crochet or knitting, one inside the other and stitched together?

Cherryfudge

It's beautiful, Laura. I love those straps!

@MrsCD, I think they are double thickness (just having had a quick search). Perhaps they are more durable that way, but it also means they can't be wrong side out, so the person can't be stuck with nothing to twiddle. I'd imagine part of the joy of them is in lots of variety, though.

PollyWollyDoodle

That is lovely, Laura.  What a great re-use of something that wasn't being worn, it's beautiful fabric. 

PipneyJane

Lovely work, @Laura_Elsewhere, and an excellent use of that linen fabric.  Those straps are beautiful.  

Re DM’s, last time I went into their shop in Covent Garden, they gave you the choice of “made in China” (cheaper) or “made in Britain”.  Since it’s not an urgent purchase, I will keep looking.  I like loafers, but I would like leather soled ones.

@MrsCD, it’s very good of you to make twiddle-muffs.  They are double sided, so that any button edges, etc, don’t dig in.  Make sure that whatever buttons, ribbons, etc, you sew on are well secured before sewing in the lining.  (If you haven’t encountered a twiddle-muff, they are frequently given to patients with dementia, so that they have something to fidget with instead of picking at their own hands.)  

- Pip