2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Nelliegrace

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yWwhX-8-MsE

As we cannot get 1940s margarine now we substitute British grown, cold pressed rapeseed oil, and a rapeseed and butter spread for DH. I have my 2 ounce butter ration.

We buy lard too, but use much less than the ration. 

The cheese ration, 2oz each, has to be a meal and not a snack. Mum would make us Welsh rarebit, (cheese sauce on toast,) or macaroni cheese, or a little grated cheese on jacket potatoes. It is not fair if DH eats your essential ration of cheese as an extra snack. 

PipneyJane

MrsCD said:

@PipneyJane, next time we're at Beamish, I'll look out for a suffragette brooch for you. They have women dressed up in costume and they sell various items with slogans printed on. I have a Votes for Women tote bag and I know they have enamel mugs too, so they may have brooches.

If you could, @MrsCD, I would be most grateful.

maryb said:

First week of attempting to manage on the tea ration which I thought would be a real struggle.  But there was 1 3/4 oz left out of the 4 oz I measured out a week ago.  I was astonished.  I was using loose leaf tea which means you can use less for making half a pot and I was probably skimping a bit as the tea tasted a bit weaker than I like sometimes.  So week 2 and I won't skimp and see how I get on.  I've already worked out that the fat and sugar rations would be plenty in total though I'd hate to have to use margarine as part of the ration.  Cheese ration I'm not sure about - DH likes to nibble!  which of course would have been off limits, but it makes it harder to see how much I've used by seeing how much is left.  Milk would definitely be a problem

Well done on the tea ration @maryb!  Instead of making a pot when I want one cup, I have tea infusers, although my best ones look more like a teaspoon with a snap lid than the one to which I've linked.  I find stirring them around makes for a stronger cuppa.

Nelliegrace said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yWwhX-8-MsE

As we cannot get 1940s margarine now we substitute British grown, cold pressed rapeseed oil, and a rapeseed and butter spread for DH. I have my 2 ounce butter ration.

We buy lard too, but use much less than the ration. 

The cheese ration, 2oz each, has to be a meal and not a snack. Mum would make us Welsh rarebit, (cheese sauce on toast,) or macaroni cheese, or a little grated cheese on jacket potatoes. It is not fair if DH eats your essential ration of cheese as an extra snack. 

Well said, @Nelliegrace.  Cheese is one of the reasons that I said I could do rationing but only if we were allowed to accumulate coupons and spend them for a month instead of a week.  (Beyond buying milk, yoghurts and fresh veg, I usually only do one "big" shop a month.)

- Pip

alicef

@weenancyinAmerica - I do follow some small scale farmers in the US.

Floret Flowers put out a lovely 3 part documentary on flower farmers recently, (on youtube).   In my dreams I would love to have done this, but the reality is quite, quite tough.        

Nelliegrace

I divide the cheese and butter into weekly rations and freeze them, getting the new ration out on Sunday night. The only cheese was Government Cheddar. I choose mature cheddar because it has more flavour so you can use a bit less. It has saved a lot of money, DH would cut great chunks of cheese from a large block, but cut less from a smaller pack. 

I like the wartime novels of Angela Thirkell which mention the ladies taking their little jars of milk and tin of sugar to the knitting and sewing groups, their labelled individual pots of butter at the breakfast table, and little sacrifices and the meannesses which reveal the true character. They were obsessed with the weather, though public weather forecasts were banned. 

Laura_Elsewhere

Just a reminder, to everyone, that advertising a company or services is not permitted in these forums. 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Just a reminder, to everyone, that advertising a company or services is not permitted in these forums. 

Agreed, @Laura_Elsewhere.  Even linking to the free knitting pattern on my blog is not allowed.

@fashionlearner, if you want to stay and participate, please amend or remove your posts, to take away any reference to the website you are selling.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Just a reminder, to everyone, that advertising a company or services is not permitted in these forums. 

Those posts have been removed.  Thank you @Laura_Elsewhere for reporting them.  (I did too.)

Now, back to 1942.  What is everyone knitting?  I have a sock on the go, using the patterned yarn I bought from L!dl last November.  I’ll post a photo soon.  I’m also on the sleeves of my ribbed jumper, having finished the body about a month ago.

- Pip

laura_lau

Hello everyone, I've been silent for a bit, but I have been reading your posts, and as usual I have learned a lot!

March has been extremely busy, I've been visiting friends, have had friends visiting, met my cousin (who was visiting) for lunch, and I went with a friend to the Stitch festival in London last weekend! We always try to go, and this year I have been extremely good! I am so surprised at myself, and extremely pleased! I think the challenge, and having made the resolution to avoid buying yarn as much as I could, really helped. There were lots of beautiful things, and the fabrics were very beautiful, but that would have been even worse than buying yarn, as I still have to resume my sewing self-training.

So the only things I bought at the fair were:

• basket for wool/projects in progress
• a murano glass magnetic needle minder 
• a small kit to make an amigurumi from a stall of a lady who recognises me at every fair, and who very kindly gifted me a pattern to make a cowl with leftover yarn I purchased from her a couple of years ago (I made a Summer top, and was wearing it last year to show her, and I have 1 full ball left now).

So I need to declare the cotton from the kit: there are 6 x 20g cotton balls of different colours, for a total of 120g. I believe this means I spent 2.4 coupons? How does it work with half used coupons? Are they allowed, or would that mean I have to spend a whole coupon? I'll put it as 2 and a half in my signature, but if someone more knowledgeable can advise, I can change the signature again later.

@alicef you tapestry looks fantastic! Funnily enough I took out my in-progress tapestry earlier today, nowhere near as beautiful as yours, and a much simpler pattern, but it is still taking me long enough to finish it! 

I have also 2 finished things to report! I finished the Sophie scarf for myself, as I wanted to wear it at the fair last week (lots of people recognised it and got lots of compliments, but it is extremely imperfect and full of mistakes, so not that deserving to be fair, but I gladly received them anyway!) and the Troll hat for OH's cousin's toddler. Finished size is slightly bigger than the child's head, but this means it will fit him when he will need a hat again in Autumn, and also it can be folded to fit the head now. Hope they like it! I'm attaching the two pictures.

Sarahspangles

There will be a resumption of knitting shortly. I’m currently getting ready for demob! I just looked up what returning soldiers were issued (from Wikipedia)

According to the Imperial War Museum, the full outfit included:

• A felt hat or optional flat cap
• A double breasted pinstripe three-piece suit, or a single-breasted jacket with flannel trousers
• Two shirts and collars with matching collar studs
• A tie
• Shoes
• A raincoat

I quite fancy a flat cap, single breasted jacket and flannel trousers. I’m doing demob in reverse, instead of going home I get to leave the house, having worked here for the duration.

florianatwobob

Sarahspangles said:

There will be a resumption of knitting shortly. I’m currently getting ready for demob! I just looked up what returning soldiers were issued (from Wikipedia)

According to the Imperial War Museum, the full outfit included:

• A felt hat or optional flat cap
• A double breasted pinstripe three-piece suit, or a single-breasted jacket with flannel trousers
• Two shirts and collars with matching collar studs
• A tie
• Shoes
• A raincoat

I quite fancy a flat cap, single breasted jacket and flannel trousers. I’m doing demob in reverse, instead of going home I get to leave the house, having worked here for the duration.

Apparently my uncle was demobbed with a particularly violent combination of orange jumper and green trousers! There is a picture of him wearing this ensemble with my auntie but (un)fortunately it’s obviously black and white!