2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

kiwisavings said:

Great bag @Gem-gem,

I'm not sure about the number of coupons needed for the cotton yarn - are we counting this as knitting yarn?
If so, the 150g would require 3 coupons.
But the Clothing Coupon Quiz from September 1941 only mentions yarn that contains at least 16% wool, so I'm not sure. 





Does anyone else have any ideas? 

I have a vague recollection that we communally decided a year or two back, that we’d count all yarn at the wool rate of coupons… @PipneyJane do you recall?

alicef

@maryb, yes it's so annoying that a lot of U is free to stream but not Alibi.  The Bookish title sequence is superb, (as is the rest of the production).  Thank you for the 80s drama heads up - I shall certainly take a look.  I spent a lot of the 80s in suits; flats; piecrust or Peter Pan collar blouses, vest sweaters and silk knot cufflinks.  Now I'm in fading leggings and disintegrating jumpers. 
@Gem-gem I have crochet patterns that I love, but I know I will never achieve.

Gem-gem

Good evening, 
Three coupons I will allocate unless informed otherwise. 

Another bag completed. 50g of wool plus scraps. Next time, I would have a go at crocheting in the round rather than forward / back which would remove the need to sew up. 

Cherryfudge

Aw @Gem-gem, that's so gorgeous! Bee-autiful, I should say.

I have three new items of clothing - a tee shirt, blouse and dress. All new-to-me though, so no coupons. Total spend of £14.95. 

PipneyJane

kiwisavings said:

Great to hear that there is a new season for the GB Sewing Bee, we have just finished the last season here in New Zealand and so will probably have a few months wait here for this new one.

Some news on handbags...
I have found a few advertisements from 1941- 1944 for handbags, they are listed as being coupon free!

November 1941



December 1941



March 1944



During this time, there were also quite a few ads from other stores that included handbags as items for sale, so they did appear to be available. I'm not sure if the one from 1944 was much more expensive due to quality or price hikes??
 

Thanks @kiwisavings.  We’ve always given handbags the same coupon cost as shoes because they involve approximately the same level of labour and resources to create.

- Pip

PipneyJane

 

Laura_Elsewhere said:

kiwisavings said:

Great bag @Gem-gem,

I'm not sure about the number of coupons needed for the cotton yarn - are we counting this as knitting yarn?
If so, the 150g would require 3 coupons.
But the Clothing Coupon Quiz from September 1941 only mentions yarn that contains at least 16% wool, so I'm not sure. 





Does anyone else have any ideas? 

I have a vague recollection that we communally decided a year or two back, that we’d count all yarn at the wool rate of coupons… @PipneyJane do you recall?

Yes, that is correct @Laura_Elsewhere.  We put it to a vote and decided that there’d be no concession for non-wool yarns.  Everything costs the same at 1 coupon per 50g.

@Gem-gem, I feel your frustration re crochet sweater patterns.  They do exist - have a look at the Interweave Crochet site.  The magazine goes out quarterly, IIRC.  There’s also a British crochet magazine, but I’m blanking on the name.  ??? Simply Crochet ???  (Only thing to remember with American patterns is that what we call a double, they call a single; our triple crochet stitch is their double.). 

Also, if you can find a secondhand copy, the Australian Wool Corporation’s Big Book of Crochet has some lovely patterns.  (Rav link.). Not a granny square in sight.

alicef said:

@maryb, yes it's so annoying that a lot of U is free to stream but not Alibi.  The Bookish title sequence is superb, (as is the rest of the production).  Thank you for the 80s drama heads up - I shall certainly take a look.  I spent a lot of the 80s in suits; flats; piecrust or Peter Pan collar blouses, vest sweaters and silk knot cufflinks.  Now I'm in fading leggings and disintegrating jumpers. 
@Gem-gem I have crochet patterns that I love, but I know I will never achieve.

I hate to break it to you, @alicef but the “big” suits from the 1980s are back in fashion.  I’ve spotted multiple 20-something girls wearing oversized jackets on the Tube.  Usually double-breasted, pinstriped jackets with matching trousers.

- Pip

kiwisavings

@PipneyJane "Thanks @kiwisavings.  We’ve always given handbags the same coupon cost as shoes because they involve approximately the same level of labour and resources to create"

Thanks Pip, that makes a lot of sense and fits in better with our modern situation.

alicef

@PipneyJane I'm thinking my shoulder pads were quite tame - being short.  I tell what I do remember - all those heavy, heavy perfumes that proceeded you by yards - my fixation was Ch@nel's Coco. Now I'm quite happy with A1di's offerings.

Gem-gem

Large shoulder pads and oversized jackets reminds me of a Melanie Griffith film - Working Girl and Pretty Women with Julia Roberts. 

PipneyJane

alicef said:

@PipneyJane I'm thinking my shoulder pads were quite tame - being short.  I tell what I do remember - all those heavy, heavy perfumes that proceeded you by yards - my fixation was Ch@nel's Coco. Now I'm quite happy with A1di's offerings.

Thank God those days have passed, although the girls who sat in front of me at the cricket last weekend wore quite strong perfume/antiperspirant.  (I’m not sure which, but was I grateful when the wind blew the other way.)

I have two spends to declare.  After work on Monday, I drove to Hobbycraft and bought a skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock yarn in the Wood Pigeon colourway, as a gift for the colleague who lost everything when the block of flats she lived in burnt down.  She’s a knitter, so as well as knitting her a pair of socks - finished this week - I’ve made her up a sock knitting kit.  (Now to figure out how to get it all to her.).



I’ve included a darning needle, several stitch markers, one of those coil-thingies that you can use to hold your needles together, as well as DPN’s, a DPN case and a crochet hook.  2 coupons spent on the yarn.


On Tuesday, the top zip on my purse disintegrated in such a way that, while it still worked, it was very difficult to close - there is nothing to hold.    On my way home from work on Thursday, I dropped into the shopping centre in my local market town.  Dashed through 3 shops in blind hope and, in the 4th (TK Maxx), finally found some purses.  For £14.99, I got a small leather purse. As per the notes on the first post, I’m counting the purse as 2 coupons

The above brings my total to 29.5/66 coupons. 

- Pip