2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

dND

Hi all - sneaking back in and hoping no-one notices in this heat.

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed since the beginning of the year but have tried to keep up with the posts  That fell apart too at the beginning of this month and I'm nearly 300 posts behind across the threads I follow. 😱

I have spends to declare.  I took advantage of M&S's offer on lingerie so 10 pairs of knickers and 3 bralettes there and a pair of sheepskin type of slippers from the P4vers sale.

Brain isn't functioning that well but I think it's 2 coupons per pair of knicker, so 20 coupons; as a bralette is more than a bra but less than a corset is 2 coupons the rate for those? If so, another 6 coupons.  Slippers, 5 coupons, making a grand total of 31 coupons spent bringing my total to 36 spent so far this year.  All other clothing has been second-hand this year.

I do hope household furnishings are exempt in this challenge 🤞🤞as with renovating and relocating, rather a lot of these have been coming into the house and while I've been trying to source second-hand I want the right look for the rooms I have decorated.  Oh and also towels, my 25 year old towels are beginning to fall apart so they are on a rolling replacement schedule too.

Take care in this heat everyone - I came to Wales to get away from this heat 🤣🤣.  But that said, my years in SW France were good training for hot weather protocol and being in the lucky position of being able to siesta during the heat of the day and only work in the cool is a literal lifesaver. Dx

maryb

Household linens did need coupons but if you were bombed out/a refugee from France and had to move to Wales to start over you would have had an allocation of coupons

PipneyJane

MrsCD said:

Thanks everyone! Cuthbert was a bit of a pain to make because the pattern wasn't right and I had to wing it a bit! First and last though....absolutely no more toys. I'll stick to clothes and blankets. Much easier. 😉😅
(P.S. I should have hoovered first! 😂)

If you hadn’t mentioned hoovering, we’d never have noticed @MrsCD.  

Very sweet blanket @Gem-gem.  

@Liverpool_Anne your family went through a lot during the war.  36 hours in the water!  Your poor dad.

I am feeling very relieved.  Nearly experienced a knitting disaster, of the non-fixable type.  I thought I’d lost yet another knitting needle from my favourite set of DPNs!

As you may know, I always carry a sock-in-progress with me, in my handbag.  At the first iKnit London knitting show, nearly 20 years ago, I purchased 2.5mm, 6 inch long wooden KnitPro Symphony DPNs.  At the time, I bought a kit - multiple sizes of DPN’s - plus a set of 2.5mm, so had 12.  (They’re sold in sets of 6.) I’ve used them persistently for the last 20 years.  The tips are almost as smooth as the day they were purchased. Over the years, I’ve lost several: one in France in 2019, one on the Tube a couple of years ago, one in America…  At one point, I’d forgotten I had the second set, so purchased KnitPro replacements and blended them in, but their tips always ended up rough.  I was most relieved when I rediscovered the second set a couple of years ago but, inexplicably, there were only 5… Put the replacements away and blended both sets of originals together.  Currently, I’m down to 8 of the originals, but one is damaged, where the veneer split at the tip, so it lives in the coffee table and not in the DPN needle holder with its brethren. 

I have reached the point where I count my DPNs religiously: when I start to knit, and when I put away my knitting.  That way, I’ll always know if one gets dropped before it becomes irrecoverable.  In the current heat, I’m only knitting at home.  Imagine my horror, last night, when I took out my latest sock in progress and discovered I only had 6 DPNs in the holder!  Searched everywhere, including under the couch, and couldn’t find the 7th DPN. 

Tried again, this morning. Moved all the cushions.  No joy. Wracked my brain - had I knitted on the Tube on Tuesday, when we went to Royal Academy of the Arts Summer Exhibition?  Not that I could recall.  Then, about half an hour ago, I put my hand down on the cushion beside me, and there it was! 

Obviously, the knitting gods are messing with me.

- Pip

PipneyJane

dND said:

Hi all - sneaking back in and hoping no-one notices in this heat.

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed since the beginning of the year but have tried to keep up with the posts  That fell apart too at the beginning of this month and I'm nearly 300 posts behind across the threads I follow. 😱

I have spends to declare.  I took advantage of M&S's offer on lingerie so 10 pairs of knickers and 3 bralettes there and a pair of sheepskin type of slippers from the P4vers sale.

Brain isn't functioning that well but I think it's 2 coupons per pair of knicker, so 20 coupons; as a bralette is more than a bra but less than a corset is 2 coupons the rate for those? If so, another 6 coupons.  Slippers, 5 coupons, making a grand total of 31 coupons spent bringing my total to 36 spent so far this year.  All other clothing has been second-hand this year.

I do hope household furnishings are exempt in this challenge 🤞🤞as with renovating and relocating, rather a lot of these have been coming into the house and while I've been trying to source second-hand I want the right look for the rooms I have decorated.  Oh and also towels, my 25 year old towels are beginning to fall apart so they are on a rolling replacement schedule too.

Take care in this heat everyone - I came to Wales to get away from this heat 🤣🤣.  But that said, my years in SW France were good training for hot weather protocol and being in the lucky position of being able to siesta during the heat of the day and only work in the cool is a literal lifesaver. Dx

Knickers are 2 coupons @dND and bras are 1.5 each.  How would you define a bralette?  If it’s a bra-like top, then I’d say it’d be 1.5 coupons.

We’ll ignore the household linens, unless they become a habit.  

- Pip

dND

PipneyJane said:

Knickers are 2 coupons @dND and bras are 1.5 each.  How would you define a bralette?  If it’s a bra-like top, then I’d say it’d be 1.5 coupons.

We’ll ignore the household linens, unless they become a habit.  

- Pip

https://www.marksandspencer.com/3pk-seamless-non-wired-bralettes/p/clp60714639?color=GREENMIX#intid=pid_pg1pip48g4r7c4

They're definitely more than a bra but as I said, less than a corset which is why I proposed 2 coupons 😁
Thank you for the leeway on the household stuff.  If it's for a whim, I will record it.  New spare bedroom has had curtains, carpet and bedding 😱 but I'm looking forward to have a functioning spare bedroom. 😁 Dx

MrsCD

Aaawwwww, what a sweet baby blankie! 😍

MrsCD

@PipneyJane, I'm convinced that when you don't need DPNs they breed like rabbits, but once you start to use them, they fall down the rabbit holes! 😄
Glad you found yours.

Gem-gem

Haven't felt well today. Picked up a virus. So have quietly sat and made a bee blankie. I did the scalloped edging on this one. The wings are made out of fine cotton. The rest is made out of baby wool. Black and cotton is from my Mum's stash. 

Sarahspangles

I have a bra purchase to report, but I’m pleased to see I still have 27 coupons if I need them. I’ve got a note that we decided they’re 1.5 coupons though mine can’t be described as skimpy things.

I could really do with some new T shirts, but may alter some long sleeved ones instead, since I’ve lost some weight since being demobbed. Enough that I’m having to rework the first bodice toile I made on my dressmaking course, though I wanted to do that anyway as the height adjustments meant it had been really cut about.

I did a bit of fabric shop browsing recently and noticed ric-rac is currently in fashion! I remember it from childhood.

MrsCD

@Gem-gem, that is adorable!😁🐝🌻 Look after yourself in this heat.
@Sarahspangles, if you wait long enough, almost everything comes back into fashion! 😉