2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

PollyWollyDoodle said:

Love that dress, Laura!  

I have just watched ‘Sewing Bee’. 

I won’t put any spoilers up but I’m very disgruntled with the decision this week.  It’s left someone in the semifinal who doesn’t deserve to be there (in my opinion, of course!) and it seems that ‘impact’ counts for more than sewing skills.   Hmmmph.  

Competency obviously doesn’t count.  I watched it this morning and I totally agree with you, @PollyWollyDoodle and @Mrs_Salad_Dodger.  Seriously, they’ve kept in the least competent sewer, while kicking out someone who has regularly been in the top 3 places.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Sounds like I've been sensible not to bother watching it this series, then! It's so frustrating- they could SO easily have made it into a series in which there is a winner, but during which viewers learn to understand how to improve their sewing, how to avoid common mistakes, Patrick talking about, say, how tailoring can and can't change how you look, Esme talking about how to alter bought clothes for better fit, maybe a bit most weeks on quick mending tips...
They could do all that and STILL have enjoyable, challenging competitive tasks set for the sewers- but challenges that are not stupid... 

Laura_Elsewhere

We are getting serious about tackling the Too Much Stuff problem here at Elsewhere Towers... partly because Mr E's ex-wife, mother of the lovely Young Mr E, has ended up in hospital for a few weeks (home now) as a result of which it turned out her house is so cluttered and dirty that the hosp deemed it unsafe for her to return, so Mr E, YME, YME's gf and I have spent literally days over there tackling it all. In a fortnight, I reckon it was two full working days easily, over 16 hours, just for me, more for Mr E. 
Anyway, we've got it straight now and she's home, but I am now fuming that she's got a nicer home than I have, so I am insisting we put the same kind of effort into making our home livable. 

As a result, at my suggestion, we will be sleeping on the sitting-room floor from Friday to Sunday, so that Mr E can empty the boxroom completely, get rid of as much as possible, and then some of the sitting-room boxes can go in there. 

All I want is a pleasant space where I can put a chair to sit and read a novel for half an hour in the afternoon... but I've been trying for that for years now. We got the lovely new furniture in January but the rest of the sitting-room is now less-usable, unbelievably- Mr E has his desk temporarily across the room, and the new table (far too big in hindsight, should have waited and bought it next winter) blocks off the rest, so two-thirds of the room is piles of boxes ceiling-high, inaccessible behind desk and table. It's lucky we like each other so much as we will have far less room to lie down than we are used to in a double! It'll be like students days all over again in a single, although at least we can't fall off the edge of a floor  

He will be best working alone, although I have offered- so my job is to manage meals and cold drinks and the floor-room, and stay out of the way- so I hope to get the black broderie anglaise dress made  

Cherryfudge

I'm a real enthusiast for saving textiles and to me, the makeover is an ill-thought-out challenge. So few of the results are wearable, with just a handful of exceptions. I agree with you @Laura_Elsewhere, a mending skills challenge would be 100% more useful. I'd like to see that challenge turned from destroying lots of wearable clothing to one where contestants repair or alter an item. There's a lot of scope in this for exploring their skills, so the items would probably need a couple of things to be done - one could be really simple, like a seam split or a lost button, but the other would take more skills, like altering the size, visible mending, stain removal, even invisible mending. Those are the skills needed to maintain usefulness and keep items out of landfill (or from causing pollution in other countries).

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

I'm a real enthusiast for saving textiles and to me, the makeover is an ill-thought-out challenge. So few of the results are wearable, with just a handful of exceptions. I agree with you @Laura_Elsewhere, a mending skills challenge would be 100% more useful. I'd like to see that challenge turned from destroying lots of wearable clothing to one where contestants repair or alter an item. There's a lot of scope in this for exploring their skills, so the items would probably need a couple of things to be done - one could be really simple, like a seam split or a lost button, but the other would take more skills, like altering the size, visible mending, stain removal, even invisible mending. Those are the skills needed to maintain usefulness and keep items out of landfill (or from causing pollution in other countries).

I totally agree, @Cherryfudge, although I will swear that, in the first series I watched, they did do a makeover challenge that fitted the bill, turning men’s suits into women’s clothing.  (Mind you, I’ve only watched the last 2 or 3 series before this one.). IIRC that episode was dedicated to the War and Make-Do-And-Mend.

Laura_Elsewhere said:

We are getting serious about tackling the Too Much Stuff problem here at Elsewhere Towers... partly because Mr E's ex-wife, mother of the lovely Young Mr E, has ended up in hospital for a few weeks (home now) as a result of which it turned out her house is so cluttered and dirty that the hosp deemed it unsafe for her to return, so Mr E, YME, YME's gf and I have spent literally days over there tackling it all. In a fortnight, I reckon it was two full working days easily, over 16 hours, just for me, more for Mr E. 
Anyway, we've got it straight now and she's home, but I am now fuming that she's got a nicer home than I have, so I am insisting we put the same kind of effort into making our home livable. 

As a result, at my suggestion, we will be sleeping on the sitting-room floor from Friday to Sunday, so that Mr E can empty the boxroom completely, get rid of as much as possible, and then some of the sitting-room boxes can go in there. 

All I want is a pleasant space where I can put a chair to sit and read a novel for half an hour in the afternoon... but I've been trying for that for years now. We got the lovely new furniture in January but the rest of the sitting-room is now less-usable, unbelievably- Mr E has his desk temporarily across the room, and the new table (far too big in hindsight, should have waited and bought it next winter) blocks off the rest, so two-thirds of the room is piles of boxes ceiling-high, inaccessible behind desk and table. It's lucky we like each other so much as we will have far less room to lie down than we are used to in a double! It'll be like students days all over again in a single, although at least we can't fall off the edge of a floor  

He will be best working alone, although I have offered- so my job is to manage meals and cold drinks and the floor-room, and stay out of the way- so I hope to get the black broderie anglaise dress made  

I completely appreciate your frustration, Laura.  My DH is very similar. Half our lounge is covered in bags and boxes of stuff that he has “filed” there, some of which should be in the loft (which needs shelving).  It is immensely frustrating, when I have to spend 20 minutes clearing the kitchen table of stuff that I didn’t put down, just so I can use it for dinner.  ( I lack the “neat gene” - I can put a pen down on an empty desk and it’ll look like a bomb has hit it - but I can do “a place for everything and everything in its place”. )

- Pip (excuse my venting)

weenancyinAmerica

"All I want is a pleasant space where I can put a chair to sit and read a novel for half an hour in the afternoon..." sounds wonderful to me - and currently an impossible dream. Can't even sit in any of my sister's armchairs and read as they are very uncomfortable. Need to find a chair that fits me. And find the space to put it. Your house sounds like mine, Laura. 

Laura_Elsewhere

i shall probably delete this pic but just to give an idea- pic taken through hatch from kitchen, half the room to left behind desk… 

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Laura, that room has so much potential 😊 I can see that MrE needs a good talking to 😂

Gem-gem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6494257/2024-decluttering-campaign-mrssd#latest  

Laura, MrE may wish to join Mrs SD forum, I have spent many years on it and it has done wonders for my house. When it was raining last l weekend I spent one of the days decluttering. My tiny office, it doesn't take long to accumulate.

alicef

have been away for a bit - demands of the WLA.

Have another 10 yarn related coupons to declare!   In a small offset, I have been drafted in to run a crafting 

workshop for the reading challenge over the summer - I'm thinking stash busting...(at least in a small way).