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2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane
PipneyJane Posts: 4,474 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
edited 8 February at 12:10PM in Old style MoneySaving
(The Fashion On The Ration Challenge is about restraining our shopping impulses and buying the clothing we need as well as what we want.  As @Laura_Elsewhere said "If this group is about anything, it's about understanding how we buy and what we buy and when we buy...". We use the original, 1942, clothing rations.)

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Welcome to the village hall of Much Mending on the Borrow, where it is perpetually 1942. We’ve just finished the village Fun Run and the runners are discussing their times.  There’s a fire in the wood-stove, tea brewing in the pot and cakes to share.  Don’t mind Scruffy-dog on the hearth rug, or Jess, the cat, on the window-seat.   They promise not to shed all over your knitting and, if you’re feeling down, they’ll come over and give you a cuddle.

We’re quite a busy little village.  There’s a cricket club, @CraftyLittleLisa’s haberdashery shop, a weekly market where @thriftwizard has a stall, a half-timbered pub called The Make Do and Mend, the Norman church with its choir, and the nearby USAF airbase where @TwibbleDee lives.  @Cherryfudge is captain of the Athletics Club, while @Laura_Elsewhere organises the Ramblers.  The local firm of solicitors is called Heel, Flapp & Gusset.  Up the hill is Much Mending On The Rise, home of Margot Leadbetter, that horribly patronising Lucia woman (of Mapp & Lucia fame) and the railway station. 

The talk turns to the new tranche of 66 clothing coupons for the year.  Who has any left from last year?   What are your plans to spend them?  Would you like to join us?  Last year’s Fashion On The Ration Challenge can be found here. The challenge is based on the original 1941 coupons.  




Government announcement in the Evening Argus, June 1, 1941

To break it down into Women's clothing only:-

Lined mackintosh or coat over 28" - 14 coupons

Under 28" short coat or jacket - 11 coupons

Frock, gown or dress of wool - 11 coupons

Frock, gown or dress of other fabric - 7 coupons

Bodice with girls skirt or gym tunic - 8 coupons

Pyjamas - 8 coupons

Divided skirt or skirt – 7 coupons

Nightdress - 6 coupons

Dungarees or overalls - 6 coupons

Blouse, shirt, sports top, cardigan or jumper - 5 coupons*

Pair of slippers, boots or shoes – 5 coupons

Other garments including corsets - 3 coupons

Petticoat or slip, cami-knickers or combinations - 4 coupons

Apron or pinafore - 3 coupons

Scarf, gloves, mittens or muff - 2 coupons

Stockings per pair - 2 coupons

Ankle socks per pair – 1 coupon

1 yard wool cloth 36"wide – 3 coupons, non-woollen cloth is 2 coupons

2 ounces of wool knitting yarn – 1 coupon


Assumptions for the Challenge:-

  • 1 yard of fabric equals 1 modern metre. No penalty for width.
  • 2 ounces of wool knitting yarn equals 50g of any knitting yarn.
  • Based on the quantity of fabric and work involved, a "corset" is the equivalent of two bras, therefore each bra is 1.5 coupons.
  • Ditto one pair of Cami-knickers would equal two pairs of modern bikini-style knickers or thongs, making each pair of modern knickers 2 coupons.
  • Bodice with skirt = shirt/blouse/t-shirt purchased at the same time as a matching or co-ordinating skirt or trousers = 8 coupons in total.
  • Dungarees = jeans = 6 coupons.
  • Ditto trousers.
  • Oodies = siren suits and cost the same as a dressing gown, i.e. 8 coupons for a man and 6 for a woman.
  • Leggings count as 2 coupons, the same as thermal tights.
  • Second-hand clothing is exempt.
  • Leather handbags aren't mentioned anywhere in the clothing coupon data. The assumption is that they weren't made once the war was in full swing. Ditto leather wallets and purses. I assume a leather handbag involves the same effort and leather as a pair of shoes at 5 coupons. A new wallet/purse can be 2 coupons.
  • Stockings/tights. At 2 coupons a pair, stockings are really expensive in coupon-terms. Because of your connection to the armed forces, you have been given 6 special vouchers for those 4-pair value packs, which will not require coupons to redeem.  Each voucher can also be swapped for a pair of thermal tights or leggings.
  • Face masks are coupon free.
  • If something isn't listed under women's clothing, but is listed under men's, assume its the same coupon cost as men's , e.g. shorts aren’t mentioned in the list of women’s clothing, so ladies shorts cost the same as the men’s - 5 coupons.
  • Hats are listed in the fine print.  They are coupon free.
  • Leather and cotton belts are coupon free.
  • Swimsuits cost 3 coupons and fall into the category of "Other Under Garments including Corsets".
  • *After much discussion, it was agreed that a t-shirt is 4 coupons, not 5.

Some posts you might find useful:-

The sock knitting pattern:   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76693555/#Comment_76693555 

@Diane1276’s instructions for short-row heels:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81273513/#Comment_81273513

@Laura_Elsewhere’s advice for making a face mask:   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77193632/#Comment_77193632

@Nonnadiluca’s broccoli and pasta au gratin:   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77197230/#Comment_77197230

The free knickers pattern:  https://gwenstellamade.com/blog/10-free-underwear-sewing-patterns 

Website for printing PDF'd sewing patterns onto A0 pattern paper:  https://www.patternsy.com/

The Wartime Recipes thread:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6409173/war-time-recipes#latest 

@Gem-gem's recipes for crochet stars and crochet granny squares:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6322521/2022-fashion-on-the-ration-challenge/p217

@Grouchy's thread regarding 1950's ladies dressing habits:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6483561/50s-question/p1

@Laura_Elsewhere's Banana Crumble Bars:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80486923/#Comment_80486923

@Laura_Elsewhere’s chocolate digestives.  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80786263/#Comment_80786263

@Nelliegrace’s grandmother’s Bara Brith Recipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81045329/#Comment_81045329 

"Be the type of woman that when you get out of bed in the morning, the devil says 'Oh crap. She's up.' "

It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!

2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge 66 coupons - 4 spent.

4 - Thermal Socks from L!dl
«13456733

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