2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

maryb

Clothes rationing actually started on 1 June 1941.  Does anyone know what the rationing periods were?  I know we work on 66 coupons for a calendar year on here but if you were "naked with a cheque book" on 1 June 1941 how many coupons did you have for the rest of the year?  That would actually have been the time of year when women were thinking about what they needed to replenish their winter wardrobes and winter clothes were heavier on coupons than summer clothes because of the wool content and didn't lend themselves quite so easily to remaking of existing garments.  So if you needed a new winter coat that was 14 coupons already spoken for

As we have just passed 1 June I'm thinking of drawing a line under my earlier extravagances and starting afresh for the remainder of the year with 33 coupons.  In which case I already have a (considered) spend to declare - a pair of smart but comfortable sandals in the Hotter sale 5 coupons leaving 28 for the rest of the year.  But fortunately, I don't need a new coat

Sarahspangles

maryb said:

Clothes rationing actually started on 1 June 1941.  Does anyone know what the rationing periods were?  I know we work on 66 coupons for a calendar year on here but if you were "naked with a cheque book" on 1 June 1941 how many coupons did you have for the rest of the year?  That would actually have been the time of year when women were thinking about what they needed to replenish their winter wardrobes and winter clothes were heavier on coupons than summer clothes because of the wool content and didn't lend themselves quite so easily to remaking of existing garments.  So if you needed a new winter coat that was 14 coupons already spoken for

As we have just passed 1 June I'm thinking of drawing a line under my earlier extravagances and starting afresh for the remainder of the year with 33 coupons.  In which case I already have a (considered) spend to declare - a pair of smart but comfortable sandals in the Hotter sale 5 coupons leaving 28 for the rest of the year.  But fortunately, I don't need a new coat

I just had a Google and this link suggests it was 66 for a full year from June to end May. You used your 26 margarine coupons first, and could then show your empty ration book and get a book of 40 clothing coupons.

The first year seems generous, the next book was 60 coupons but to last 15 months - presumably to September 1943.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/source-1-BT.64.3026.jpg

ETA - I think you'd have 38.5 to the end of the calendar year starting from the beginning of June

potplant

Thank you very much, @Cherryfudge, for the heads-up on the Patrick Grant book! Very impressed, and entirely fits my ethos of making, improvising  and repairing, but such a lot more history and social analysis than I'd expected. (Please can we have Patrick Grant for Minister of Trade and Industry in our new Government?  I refer, of course, to our post-War Government-to-be....)

maryb

Blush!  I can't count, it seems

Laura_Elsewhere

potplant said:

Thank you very much, @Cherryfudge, for the heads-up on the Patrick Grant book! Very impressed, and entirely fits my ethos of making, improvising  and repairing, but such a lot more history and social analysis than I'd expected. (Please can we have Patrick Grant for Minister of Trade and Industry in our new Government?  I refer, of course, to our post-War Government-to-be....)

Oooh, I'm more interested if it's also got history and social analysis! 

He's from very near where I'm from, and is a similar age- but I don't remember ever knowing a Patrick Grant! 

diminua

I've bought a dressing gown - a very light cotton one which I've been hesitating about for a while as I've already got a very nice dressing gown/towelling robe (obtained with some of the last of my 2022 coupons), but although that's lovely in the winter, and at home, it really is too warm to wear in the summer, and so bulky I never take it if I go away (I own an old blue fibreboard suitcase that fits under an aeroplane seat if I'm flying, or on a train luggage rack, or at a pinch on my knees, and which I can carry long distances without discomfort). This is thin cotton and will fold up to nothing and could probably be rinsed out and dried in a day if necessary. 

I've been looking quite hard for some new work trousers too, but can't find any as nice as the ones I have - the only problem with those being that I bought them after gaining over a stone in weight and losing muscle tone in the lockdowns, and now I've finally managed to get back to my pre-covid fitness they've gone from comfortably loose to awkwardly baggy. What I'd really like of course is the same thing a size down, but it's all cargo pants in the shops now. 
So I think perhaps a really nice belt instead to pull them in and up a bit - which will be coupon free, if I'm reading the rules right - and I can worry about replacing them next year.  

PipneyJane

@maryb, Sarahspangles is correct.  We have 7 months left of the year, so that is 38.5 coupons if you prorate them.

 @Sarahspangles those gloves look lovely.  When you finish them, please let us know the amounts of yarn that you actually used.  (Since a noticible proportion of my stash consists of the leftovers from knitting socks, I’m tempted to try to use them up that way.)

Belts are coupon free @diminua.  My commiserations.  I’m in the same boat, re clothes, since I’m now 1.5 stone lighter than I was before I got sick, and have gone down a dress size.  Fortunately for me, I kept most of my clothes from the last time I was this size, in the blind hope that my weight gain wasn’t permanent.  I just didn’t expect it to take over 12 years to get back to size 12.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@diminua - if you can sew, or know someone who can, then you could try making the trousers a bit snugger round the waist- I have found it works best to do several smaller pleats, and stitching them down makes them lie flatter. 
Try two small pleats, facing outwards, on either side at the front (experiment with pinning to get the placement right), and one or two on each side at the back.
Once you've got your little pleats in the right places, stitch them down (by hand is fine), and stitch them down into the trousering below the waistband for a couple of inches to help it all settle smoothly. Press them on the inside of the trousers, and/or through a damp cloth. 
Don't worry about getting them tight enough, just get the trousers less big generally. Wearing a belt over trousers you've taken in will look better than wearing a belt over trousers much too big for you. 

MrsCD

Just a shout out to remind everyone that Saturday is National Knitting in Public Day! I'm going out for a cuppa with my friend in the morning, and taking some knitting!

PipneyJane

MrsCD said:

Just a shout out to remind everyone that Saturday is National Knitting in Public Day! I'm going out for a cuppa with my friend in the morning, and taking some knitting!

Thanks for the reminder @MrsCD.  I am going to the rugby union grand final tomorrow at Twickenham, so will definitely be knitting in public.  (My sister and brother-in-law are over from Oz.  It’s a treat for him to go to Twickenham for a game.  We were at The Oval tonight for a T20.  Too cold to knit!)

- Pip