2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

Lavender won't actually protect against moths but it definitely smells beautiful- I had to do some emergency-gardening yesterday for someone, and came away with huge bags of hacked-back rosemary branches and enough lavender stems to make four little lavender bottles!
It's been years and years since I made any- use an odd number of stems, tie the heads together (leaving a long end dangling) and then weave ribbon round, alternately under and over (hence the importance of the odd number so you keep going in a spiral) til you've enclosed all the heads and then bring the dangling end through the stems, wrap the two ribbon-ends in opposite directions a couple of times and tie in a bow. 

It felt good to spend an hour doing non-essential things... 

(the red one is for m-i-L who hates pastel shades and loves rich reds!)

Baileys_Babe

I have never seen or heard of lavender bottles @Laura_Elsewhere they all look good but my favourites are the middle two.

PipneyJane

Baileys_Babe said:

I have never seen or heard of lavender bottles @Laura_Elsewhere they all look good but my favourites are the middle two.

Ditto, but they do look lovely.  How long do they last, Laura?

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Thanks, @Baileys_Babe - my mum taught me to make them back in the 1970s but I didn’t know if she learnt as a child or if it came from one of her 1970s traditions&crafts booklets!!

 I am keeping the two satin ribbon ones at left, the pale pink organza is for a dear friend from college days, and the red organza is for my mother in law who hates pastel colours and loves reds!

@PipneyJane generally they’re fine for the year- you just hold them in your hot little paw and gently squeeze them to refresh the scent… then you undo them, soak and press the ribbon and reuse it with the new lavender to make another!  

MrsCD

They do look pretty, @Laura_Elsewhere. At least the room will smell nice, even if they don't keep the moths away!

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Thanks, @Baileys_Babe - my mum taught me to make them back in the 1970s but I didn’t know if she learnt as a child or if it came from one of her 1970s traditions&crafts booklets!!

 I am keeping the two satin ribbon ones at left, the pale pink organza is for a dear friend from college days, and the red organza is for my mother in law who hates pastel colours and loves reds!

@PipneyJane generally they’re fine for the year- you just hold them in your hot little paw and gently squeeze them to refresh the scent… then you undo them, soak and press the ribbon and reuse it with the new lavender to make another!  

Thanks for explaining @Laura_Elsewhere.  Also, thank you for the instructions in your earlier post.  I have French lavender growing in the front garden, so may attempt to make some bottles.  How much ribbon do you normally use?

- Pip

maryb

I’m getting into buying stuff from Vinted after the success I had sourcing a Hobbs bolero earlier this year.  I really like Lands End white shirts but they are not cheap.   But they are good value as they are good quality- I’ve got a couple that are 15 years old and not showing any signs of wear.

I wanted a shirt with a mandarin collar and another with a frilled collar, the sort we wore in the late 80s which seem to be back in style - Kate Middleton wears them a lot.  But they are not styles that Land End does.  And I haven’t had any luck finding them in High Street shops.    Two white shirts in my size from Vinted came up yesterday and my trusty seam ripper will come out.  I’ll take the collar off one and just sew the collar band up to make the mandarin collar on one of them and I’ll sew a frill to insert in the open seam of the other collar band

PipneyJane

Houston, we have a match!



Yay!  Thank you, Harris Tweed shop.  Thank you!

Now, all I need to do is a) figure out how much fabric I’ll need to make trousers, a skirt and a waistcoat, and b) find fabric to match the contrast used to trim the jacket, and c) buy suitable lining fabric.  (Still have to find a pattern for the waistcoat, too.). Worst case scenario, I’ll buy 3 metres of the tweed (at 3 coupons per metre) and then work out the rest later.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, brilliant that you've found your tweed! Whose genius suggestion was that? It was a good idea, anyway!
The exact ribbon needed for lavender bottles varies depending on size of lavender flower-head and length of stem! I only had small lavender so probably used not mnuch over a foot to make little ones, six inches in full- but if you're luckier and have larger, longer-stemmed lavender then you mgiht need 18" or more. 
I'm not completely sure French lavender will work- just keep an eye on it, as it tends to be fatter with more moisture compared to English lavender varieties which tend to be more compact with more oil. It's possible the French lavender heads tightly packed may just go mouldy... 

@maryb - that sounds like a brilliant plan! I have been trying to find time and energy to butcher a few good-quality second-hand shirts too- a lovely coral pure-linen M&S shirt which has tight upper-sleeves that actually limit my ability to put things away in top cupboards, and a collar slightly too large so it crumples a lot... 

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

The exact ribbon needed for lavender bottles varies depending on size of lavender flower-head and length of stem! I only had small lavender so probably used not mnuch over a foot to make little ones, six inches in full- but if you're luckier and have larger, longer-stemmed lavender then you mgiht need 18" or more. 

Lovely idea for those bits of ribbon that come on parcels that are too nice to throw away!