2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Liverpool_Anne said:

Hi all,

@PipneyJane have you considered contacting the harris tweed shop on the isle of Harris where it's all made. If I remember correctly you can get a sample of their fabrics so you could check the colour against the jacket, just a thought
Take care everyone

Good idea @Liverpool_Anne.  I haven’t had a response from EWM.  I will contact the Harris Tweed shop today.

- Pip

Nelliegrace

This one is pretty, from Trefriw Woollen Mill.  I have sorted a couple of fleece gilets for the bin and the charity shop, and won this today for £9.99. I found it listed under the mill name. There were some from The Cambrian Mill, which was sponsored later by The Royal British Legion, which used to employ disabled servicemen.

Cherryfudge

I have my small piece of Welsh weaving here with me, @Nelliegrace. From memory, I bought it at Merioneth Mill but that may be in error as I found 'Merion Mill' online. That would have been around 1976 and it's still bright and strong!

I had some non-coupon clothing spending today, as I found a couple of large scarves I liked at a car boot sale. Both are now line-drying but I found the red cotton one has some marks that I didn't spot when I bought it. It's quite large and seems to have been in contact with something navy blue so the colour has transferred. After a couple of hand washes and rubbing laundry liquid into the marks, they've faded but they're still there. I might try again as I think it would look nice against a dark coat or jumper - which was probably exactly how it got the blue stains in the first place. (The other scarf is some easy-care fabric, maybe viscose, with lots of yardage and covered in little birds. Not elegant but cute).

PollyWollyDoodle

Thanks to inspiration from someone on here - sorry, I can’t remember who it was - I requested Patrick Grant’s book ‘Less’ from my library, and it arrived this week. I was very surprised as I expected to wait weeks for it.  

I had bought the 99p Kindle version, but my Kindle isn’t working so I had been reading it on the laptop and hadn’t got far. I much prefer reading a ‘real’ book. So that’s what I’ll mostly be doing today 😄 I have really enjoyed the chapters I have read so far.  

Nelliegrace

I have washed and line dried some winter jackets with a little pure liquid soap and added a drop of white vinegar to the rinse. My thick corduroy trousers and warm pyjamas are washed and put away. I have taken the jumpers out and given them a good shake, and I shall do that regularly. I have the warm scarves, hats and gloves I have been wearing to wash still. 

I am sure that there is a suitcase of cotton nightdresses in the attic, the ones which shrunk suddenly when I reached middle age. I think they should fit again after a couple of years of ration book cookery.

The chocolate ration is a bit short this week because the bar we share on Sundays is 10g smaller. I have cut mine into little squares to last the week while DH has guzzled his in one go. I have found that the craving for sweets has gone when I read of some of the ersatz stuff in them. 

I found some unused, pre-war handkerchiefs being sold second hand, so no coupons were needed for a present for my niece. 

Gem-gem

Two spends to declare: 

a pair of gym leggings 2 coupons. Really pleased - £88 down to £44. I then had £5 off and a £25 voucher from my CC which brought them down to £14. Rest was paid for with birthday money from brother. 

A pair of Russell and Bromley loafers 5 coupons - Mum and Dad bought these for my birthday. I think they were ashamed with how tatty my other pair had become. I had them resoled and rehealed more than once. 

Also, raided my Mum's wardrobe - she has given me two summer dresses and a linen jacket that she no longer wears. 

Finally, last week I took six items of clothing  down to a secondhand shop to sell. 

Spend 2024:

1 x jumper 5

3 x yoga pants 6

3 x t-shirt 12

1 x hoodie 5

1 x shirt 5

1 x trainers 5

1 x shoes 5

43/66 spent  

23 left. 

PipneyJane

Gem-gem said:

Two spends to declare: 

a pair of gym leggings 2 coupons. Really pleased - £88 down to £44. I then had £5 off and a £25 voucher from my CC which brought them down to £14. Rest was paid for with birthday money from brother. 

A pair of Russell and Bromley loafers 5 coupons - Mum and Dad bought these for my birthday. I think they were ashamed with how tatty my other pair had become. I had them resoled and rehealed more than once. 

Also, raided my Mum's wardrobe - she has given me two summer dresses and a linen jacket that she no longer wears. 

Finally, last week I took six items of clothing  down to a secondhand shop to sell. 

Spend 2024:

1 x jumper 5

3 x yoga pants 6

3 x t-shirt 12

1 x hoodie 5

1 x shirt 5

1 x trainers 5

1 x shoes 5

43/66 spent  

23 left. 

Are Russell & Bromley loafers still hard soled @Gem-gem?  Or have they gone moulded plastic, like so many other brands?  

Also, since the loafers were a present to you, the coupons spent were the gift giver’s not yours.  That takes your total back to 28.

- Pip

Gem-gem

PipneyJane said:

Gem-gem said:

Two spends to declare: 

a pair of gym leggings 2 coupons. Really pleased - £88 down to £44. I then had £5 off and a £25 voucher from my CC which brought them down to £14. Rest was paid for with birthday money from brother. 

A pair of Russell and Bromley loafers 5 coupons - Mum and Dad bought these for my birthday. I think they were ashamed with how tatty my other pair had become. I had them resoled and rehealed more than once. 

Also, raided my Mum's wardrobe - she has given me two summer dresses and a linen jacket that she no longer wears. 

Finally, last week I took six items of clothing  down to a secondhand shop to sell. 

Spend 2024:

1 x jumper 5

3 x yoga pants 6

3 x t-shirt 12

1 x hoodie 5

1 x shirt 5

1 x trainers 5

1 x shoes 5

43/66 spent  

23 left. 

Are Russell & Bromley loafers still hard soled @Gem-gem?  Or have they gone moulded plastic, like so many other brands?  

Also, since the loafers were a present to you, the coupons spent were the gift giver’s not yours.  That takes your total back to 28.

- Pip

Hi Pip, thanks for the returned coupons. 

The loafers and sandals that I have are hard soled. When they need doing I take them back to the shop and they send them to a specialist who will resole and or reheel them using their products /materials. 

Nelliegrace

It is summer at long last.
I got my sturdy, old, Clark’s men’s sandals out for yet another season. I bought them in the sales of course, a good buy. They are nearly 30 years old. Men’s clothes are often better quality than those sold at higher prices for women.

PipneyJane

@Gem-gem thanks for the info.  Next time I buy loafers, I will definitely look for Russell & Bromley, so that I can wear-and-repair them for years.  (I have a pair of leather soled RM Williams jodhpur boots, which I purchased in 2003.  Wear them to death then take them to RM Williams’ London shop, who send them back to Australia to get reheeled and resoled.)

Nelliegrace said:

It is summer at long last.
I got my sturdy, old, Clark’s men’s sandals out for yet another season. I bought them in the sales of course, a good buy. They are nearly 30 years old. Men’s clothes are often better quality than those sold at higher prices for women.

Agreed, @Nelliegrace, on both counts.  I’m finally wearing shorts and sandals.  My current shorts-of-choice were purchased in America in 2006, while my Teva-brand sandals must be at least 12 years old.  (I know I bought them in Bicester, but can’t remember when.  They were old when I went to New Zealand in 2018, because I purchased their replacement in Wellington.)

Yesterday, I had my eyes tested and, while waiting, browsed the latest edition of Elle.  Not impressed by the fashion stories.  Only two modelled and then you couldn’t actually see the clothes. Apparently the latest fashions are drainpipe jeans and everything mid-1990’s.  It didn’t look like what I remember.  There were also some capsule wardrobes presented, unworn, so no idea how the clothes would fit.  Everything cost between one week’s and one month’s wages.

Also went to Bravissimo for a much needed bra fitting.  Depending on the brand, I’m now either a 34E or a 32FF, which is about to send me into that box, to check out the bras stored there from my thinner days.  Four new bras purchased, at the cost of 6 coupons.  I’ll update my signature in a moment.

- Pip