2026 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Floss said:

I'm going to lurk for 2026, I need to see how you all manage!

Come and play, @Floss, please.  We don’t bite and don’t condemn you if you spend all your coupons in one go.  We love clothes (and fabric, and yarn).  Please take a seat by the fire and have a cup of tea with us all.  What is the one outfit you’d buy for your wardrobe, if you could find it?  (Mine is a navy blue, woollen, double breasted suit.)

@Nelliegrace, thanks for the PDF book link.  I have downloaded it and will read with interest.  I love that it includes knitting patterns and recipes/copies of Food Facts leaflets.

What are everyone’s wardrobe plans for 2026?  Mine are:-

• To knit at least 3 cardigans from stash. At least one of those will be to go with an existing jumper, thus making it into a twin set.
• To fix the problems I have with 3 hand sweaters (lengthen the Caithness Aran, reknit the body and neckline of the Australian Women’s Weekly grey sweater, and put buttons and press-studs on a cardigan that has been waiting for at least 10 years and has never been worn).
• To make the skirt and trousers to go with my Harris tweed jacket (fabric already purchased).
• No stash enhancement.
• And to buy the aforementioned navy blue suit, if I find it (26 coupons).  Ditto the impossible-to-find trench coat with detachable lining (16 coupons).

Also, DH has requested more pairs of hand knit socks, since he has killed yet another pair, so my handbag knitting will be focused on making pairs for him.  It may also include several pairs of fingerless mitts for friends and colleagues who have cold hands, plus several more one-skein shawls.

- Pip

Nelliegrace

That is an impressive list @PipneyJane.
I remember my hand-me-down navy blue school gaberdine mackintosh with the quilted, button-in lining. Neither of my older sisters wanted to part with it. 

My plan for the year is to continue home cooking and baking from scratch with the essential wartime ration quantities for meat, cheese, fats, and sugar, with plenty of seasonal vegetables.

GDonna has challenged us to stick to the British soap ration. 
https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/what-would-you-choose/

Some Dig for Victory gardening would be useful.

I have plenty of classic style clothes in the wardrobe and attic, hardly worn because I wore uniforms at work. The most economical Make Do and Mend will be if when my skirts fit again. 

I have some knitting to finish, and some balls of wool and knitting cotton.

PipneyJane

Nelliegrace said:

That is an impressive list @PipneyJane.
I remember my hand-me-down navy blue school gaberdine mackintosh with the quilted, button-in lining. Neither of my older sisters wanted to part with it. 

My plan for the year is to continue home cooking and baking from scratch with the essential wartime ration quantities for meat, cheese, fats, and sugar, with plenty of seasonal vegetables.

GDonna has challenged us to stick to the British soap ration. 
https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/what-would-you-choose/

Some Dig for Victory gardening would be useful.

I have plenty of classic style clothes in the wardrobe and attic, hardly worn because I wore uniforms at work. The most economical Make Do and Mend will be if when my skirts fit again. 

I have some knitting to finish, and some balls of wool and knitting cotton.

Interesting challenge @Nelliegrace.   I hadn’t considered the soap ration before.    I guess that, each week, you’d have to rotate your ration between the different varieties of soap, just to ensure that you had sufficient for the household.  A 3oz bar of “toilet soap” should last a month, even with daily showers.  Ditto 4oz of “hard” soap.  I wonder what the differences were between the types of soap powder and the recommended dosages for them?

(For washing up, I have distinct memories of a metal soap holder, into which you’d put 1/3 of a bar of Velvet soap, and hold it under the hot running water, while you were filling the sink. Once you had sufficient soap bubbles, you put it out of the way to dry.  Not seen one outside Australia.)

Will you be doing it? I won’t, but that’s because I’m pretty frugal with washing powder and washing up liquid, so probably already stick to the rations, (assuming you are allowed to stockpile coupons and only spend when needed).  One 6.5kg box of Persil lasts us 19 months, using the recommended dosage per wash and only doing full loads.

Oddly enough, I have been wondering how to use up my stockpile of bars of soap, acquired on various holidays.  Hmmm….  Food for thought….

- Pip

maryb

washing powder is much more economical than liquid or pods.  I've just finished a box of Ariel after 18 months (and it was reduced to £5 because the top was torn - result!)  And it doesn't leave gloop in the pipes which is what makes the machine smell. 

Loose tea is also more economical than tea bags because you can vary the amount you use rather than having to use a whole bag's worth.  I tried sticking to the tea ration for a month earlier this year and actually had some left over - and I'm a complete tea-aholic!  (The milk ration on the other hand would certainly have been a problem!)  I think people who try the ration challenge often have trouble making the tea ration last if they convert 2 oz into a particular number of tea bags

PollyWollyDoodle

I think my plans are not to buy any more clothes - except maybe some new boots.  I have more than enough; I have done the thing of turning round the hangers in the wardrobe, and anything not worn in the next four months or so will be going.  

Other plans are to rationalise my yarn and fabric stash, and donate some that won't be used - and finish off some UFOs.  I say that every year, but maybe this is the year!  So a few coupons for a new pair of boots, I've got my eye on some in the sales.

Nelliegrace

I feel very guilty about the soap ration. I went to TKM to see what lovely soaps they had in the Christmas sales, and bought a box of 8x 200g bars of Australian goats milk soap with Manuka honey, not in the sale, for £9.99. I couldn’t really leave them there. I did get just the one box. They will get used, every bit, the last wet slither pressed onto the new bar and left to set in place overnight. Neither of us can use the detergent stuff. I use plain soap, borax substitute and washing soda for the laundry. 

Soap rationing started without warning on February 9th, 1942. Anyone would think that I got a tip off in advance. I feel like a Fifth Columnist. 
I think I shall have to donate some for raffle prizes or to the evacuees. 

Invalids were allowed extra milk, otherwise I think we would have had to get a goat. We use the rations as guidelines now. I still make jam and store apples, and try to buy British seasonal produce, but it would be silly to miss out on fresh fruit. 

Gem-gem

For 2026

My planned purchases are: 
1 pair of knee high boots
1 more formal coat (navy)
(Waiting for both to be reduced).
My planned crochet projects:
1 yard jumper
1 tank top
(Wool has already been purchased /using DM old wool stash).

@Nelliegrace, I have a tin of various soaps waiting to be used. Each bar takes ages to use. 😀

diminua

I'm in again for 2026 please.

Planned purchases are:

1) Brown or grey gloves - mine were left balled up in a coat pocket and the moths had a nice little picnic (nothing else touched, thankfully) - my own fault for not washing and putting them away. I have wrist warmers, but it's going to get colder before it gets warm and I want both for the really cold days and long walks. 
2) Some briefs that are both hard wearing and attractive. So far I've only managed one or the other but I have found sports bras and socks that are both and I'm convinced briefs must be out there. Ideally in pinks and yellows and light blues to go with my other smalls. 
3) A sports bra of the kind I've found I like in a different colour (the one I have is hot pink). This is a halterneck, but with thin straps so it doesn't look odd if you can see them under a top (why are bra straps so unattractive btw). It has to be a halterneck or a wider strap as despite being reasonably stocky for my height my shoulders are still too narrow for most conventional bras and even when tightened the straps just slide off my shoulders. 
4) Some short leg trousers for work in grey and/or black that I like better than the black and brown ones I have that are simply hanging off me since I've lost a little weight (I know I said this last year. Well, one can hope). 
5) Shoes for work. I'm still thinking patent black leather or perhaps a dull red or grey leather for these. Flattish but not flat because if not enough of my foot is in contact I will clench my toes, but I definitely don't want heels. Ideally I want these by early March so I can stop wearing boots.  Girls school shoes might be an option as long as they're not too clunky or have bows or cutesy patterns on them. 

fussy, moi? 

alicef

Thank you @PipneyJane for setting up the thread again.

I'm in.  Purchased clothing isn't the issue for me - it's buying yarn and fabric.  This year I must be more accountable, so I shall try to record, in coupons, yarn/fabric used from stash against purchases, alongside bought clothing/footwear.

Floss

PipneyJane said:

Floss said:

I'm going to lurk for 2026, I need to see how you all manage!

Come and play, @Floss, please.  We don’t bite and don’t condemn you if you spend all your coupons in one go.  We love clothes (and fabric, and yarn).  Please take a seat by the fire and have a cup of tea with us all.  What is the one outfit you’d buy for your wardrobe, if you could find it?  (Mine is a navy blue, woollen, double breasted suit.)

Thanks for the welcome @PipneyJane 😊

I finished work in April, and still have the majority of my smart stuff plus my more casual WFH clothes, so the only thing I need is a classic, formal coat. However, I'm hoping to drop a size, so sizing may be an issue!

Footwear-wise, I'm good until Armageddon with too many of everything! I can't wear high heels so it's boots, trainers, Converse or FitFlops for me. 

I'm sorted in the undies department too, with a stash of hardly worn next-size-down tucked away 😊

I don't (yet) do any clothes-sewing, but have recently begun collecting yarn for both socks and a throwover-poncho thing, none of which has yet made it to needles. I am a darner, and have 3 new-to-me jumpers awaiting attention in the freezer.

I am a bit of a soap-aholic, and avoid TKM for that reason! Mine live in my nightwear drawer & bedding box, where they become nicely hard so they last for ages when used!