2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Nelliegrace

I found the list in back issues of The Times, @kiwisavings, though it would have been in other newspapers.

My mother left a poorly paid job as a clerk in the local bank to train as a nurse in 1942 or 43. She was skilled at making her own clothes, but she said once that, after paying her contribution to the family budget, she had hardly enough money left to buy her monthly Dr Whites. Women were paid considerably less than the men. I think the uniform, accommodation in the nurses’ home, and meals in the nurses’ dining room all contributed to her decision to leave home. Her sister joined the Women’s Land Army as soon as she was old enough. 

moginstein

PipneyJane said: Now to work out how to return the cash to my bank account, from my credit card, since I never carry a balance on my credit card.  (Whenever I make a purchase, I’ll pay it off within 24 hours.)

Hi Pip, some of the credit card companies will refund you if you are in credit, if you ask in the app, or contact them by phone. It might be worth asking if you'd prefer to keep you spends from your allocated purse. HTH.

alicef

adding another 4 coupons for yarn, (went with Jamieson's, @PipneyJane).

Laura_Elsewhere

kiwisavings said:

 , the fashions had changed and I'm sure that the British women wanted a change from the limited styles available in the war. I really feel for the teenagers of the time - so many restrictions even after the war ended. 

I believe that most late-1940s teenagers were not really like modern teens… presumably yes, they wanted nice things as they went from kids’ clothes to adults’ clothes but there wasn’t anything remotely like the modern attitude of having a new outfit for every occasion or for holidays etc.- most people would have had only a few main outfits, even pre-war, and changed the accessories, not the outfit. As teens wore basically adult clothing, they could borrow and lend across a wide range of family, friends, neighbours… which was something that was common across most of society until very recently- maybe we should start borrowing and lending more?!

PipneyJane

moginstein said:

PipneyJane said: Now to work out how to return the cash to my bank account, from my credit card, since I never carry a balance on my credit card.  (Whenever I make a purchase, I’ll pay it off within 24 hours.)

Hi Pip, some of the credit card companies will refund you if you are in credit, if you ask in the app, or contact them by phone. It might be worth asking if you'd prefer to keep you spends from your allocated purse. HTH.

@moginsteinWelcome!  Please come out onto the terrace, pull up a chair and join us all for a cup of tea and some cake.  It’s gingerbread today.  Do tell us about yourself!  Do you craft?

In the end, after some searching, I asked the credit card app’s AI for the link to request a refund. It was well hidden!  Once I had the link, everything was straightforward.  The cash arrived the next day and is now back in my Clothing Fund savings account.

@alicef glad you went with the Jamieson’s.  It softens up beautifully when washed.  What really appealed to me, while knitting with it, is that the fibre is very dense and quite even - no surprising areas of thick-or-thin, nor is it a yarn that feels much thinner to knit with than it appears in the ball.  (Does that make sense?)

Laura_Elsewhere said:

kiwisavings said:

 , the fashions had changed and I'm sure that the British women wanted a change from the limited styles available in the war. I really feel for the teenagers of the time - so many restrictions even after the war ended. 

I believe that most late-1940s teenagers were not really like modern teens… presumably yes, they wanted nice things as they went from kids’ clothes to adults’ clothes but there wasn’t anything remotely like the modern attitude of having a new outfit for every occasion or for holidays etc.- most people would have had only a few main outfits, even pre-war, and changed the accessories, not the outfit. As teens wore basically adult clothing, they could borrow and lend across a wide range of family, friends, neighbours… which was something that was common across most of society until very recently- maybe we should start borrowing and lending more?!

Agreed @Laura_Elsewhere

I’ve finished my re-read of Mary Stewart’s Madam Will You Talk and have decided that it’s set no later than 1949.  (It was written in 1951.)  The heroine, Charity, is 28 and a war widow. There are echos of rationing throughout the book, that you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t clued up on the period. Lavish descriptions of meals - food you wouldn’t normally get in Britain.  (The book is set in France.)  Her friend’s comment, while Charity is unpacking “What gorgeous undies…”!  Also, this description of another guest at the hotel:  “ The simple cream dress she wore must have been one of Dior’s favourite dreams, and the bill for it her husband’s nightmare.”

- Pip

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

kiwisavings said:

 , the fashions had changed and I'm sure that the British women wanted a change from the limited styles available in the war. I really feel for the teenagers of the time - so many restrictions even after the war ended. 

I believe that most late-1940s teenagers were not really like modern teens… presumably yes, they wanted nice things as they went from kids’ clothes to adults’ clothes but there wasn’t anything remotely like the modern attitude of having a new outfit for every occasion or for holidays etc.- most people would have had only a few main outfits, even pre-war, and changed the accessories, not the outfit. As teens wore basically adult clothing, they could borrow and lend across a wide range of family, friends, neighbours… which was something that was common across most of society until very recently- maybe we should start borrowing and lending more?!

My mother was a teenager in the mid 50s and married at 17. There’s a pic of her and my father at a dance and she’s in a New Look gown. When me and my sisters were children it baffled us that this was aspirational for teens! We’re that generation that fell between dinner dances and proms. There’s also one of my mother with a wonderful shawl collared wool coat, which wouldn’t have been my priority for an investment buy in my late teens.

I will be cutting my first toile this morning, for my custom fit course. Progress is slow, but I got sidetracked looking for pattern tissue and ended up rationalising my fabric stash. I’ve kept usable sizes of offcuts and salvaged haberdashery, and since I was measuring stuff I’ve actually pinned a slip on each item with a note of the length. I’m going to make the first toile in salvaged curtain lining rather than calico, since I know it will be scrapped.

Nelliegrace

A bundle of useful linens from the second hand store cost £12.71.



The bundle included this old linen tablecloth which will go to my friend who does crafting and small clothes. I did think about make do and mend, and lingerie made from used parachute silk! The blogger GDonna is doing her history project on the 1930s and was considering sewing something like this.

moginstein

PipneyJane said:
@moginsteinWelcome!  Please come out onto the terrace, pull up a chair and join us all for a cup of tea and some cake.  It’s gingerbread today.  Do tell us about yourself!  Do you craft?

In the end, after some searching, I asked the credit card app’s AI for the link to request a refund. It was well hidden!  Once I had the link, everything was straightforward.  The cash arrived the next day and is now back in my Clothing Fund savings account.

- Pip

That's great news about the funds @PipneyJane I'm glad it worked.

I've been lurking about, but learning so much from you all. I'm not really a crafter as such, and prefer to buy second hand clothes (for savings, environmental reasons, and so I can often get better quality). I'm also doing more mending of things, as now I feel its more about looking after what I have, and treating it with respect.

I inherited a sewing machine a good few years ago, and am using it more and more. Its nice to remember the previous owner.

One of my recent challenges was a knitted dress I bought from the last chance charity shop (99p). It was a Wallis one, but not quite to my taste. I've taken a section out and reattached the bottom, and made a jumper!
Its not perfect, but you do have to look pretty close to see the mistakes, and it was a great learning curve for me. (I'd never heard of a walking foot, or done proper zigzags right over the edge so stop the knitting unravelling).

Thanks for the gingerbread, you can really taste the stem ginger - what a luxury!

CapricornLass

I can appreciate that the underwear pattern is probably relatively straightforward.  Its probably ideal if you are an A cup.  However, I'm an F....   I'd be worried that there wouldn't be enough support

weenancyinAmerica

I was in university in the "hippie" era here. And as I was taking art classes, my fellow students did look the part with the tie-dyed t-shirts with jeans or the quilted patchwork long skirts. Being so close to Mexico, a number of them went with the Mexican peasant look too as they could go down to Mexico and get the real things very cheap. I did almost all of my clothes shopping at the local Salvation Army store. Still have the grey pleated skirt (50 cents) and the navy blue cardigan (35 cents) I bought in 1965. Even wore the skirt on TV once when I was a guest on a morning talk show. I still have some of my mother's clothes from the forties as well - but they no longer fit. My youngest sister and I did wear some of them when we were younger, but we have both gained too much weight. Mother never weighed more than 110 pounds, usually closer to 100. Was saving them for her great-granddaughters. Might fit one of them later as she is about our size but the other one is tall and model-sized.