2026 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

CapricornLass

I'm making up for the lack of spending earlier in the year. Two pairs of flipflops (in the sale) and two more bras - cotton ones! So much more comfortable when the weather is hot. So another 12 coupons.

I do love seeing what other people have made for themselves. My trouble is that I don't really need anything, and my atrocious sewing skills!

PollyWollyDoodle

After seven months of buying only second-hand, I’ve splashed out - four new bras, as mine all seemed to have gone grey and saggy at the same time. I went and got measured and bought two there, and then ordered two more from JL so I could use some vouchers.
So that’s 4 coupons for bras. 7 for a new dress (a very unusual purchase but I’m going to a wedding in September) and a pair of sandals. I think they’re 5. So 16 coupons total, not bad for halfway through the year. Me-made stuff - nothing happened lately, too busy. The dress was from Seasalt so meets my ethical requirements. Can’t say the same for the bras, but here are some things I can’t get second-hand.

dND

Another month and another spend and it's another pair of shoes. 😱

While looking for winter slippers back in June I read about how bad it was to live in slippers especially as you age because of the lack of support, so I decided to keep a look out for some indoor house shoes. The current P4vers sale had some that I think fit the bill; they're Fly Fl0t slip ons with arch support which I picked up today.

So another 4 coupons moving me onto 38. But I should be sorted with shoes now. 🤣

PollyWollyDoodle

That’s interesting about slippers, I didn’t know that. I do recall a couple of years ago I had some of those furry boot-type slippers and realised to my horror that I had started shuffling!
Because I use orthotic insoles and have been advised to wear them even when at home, I buy slippers with firm soles and a back, they probably qualify as house shoes. With more people working from home, we are probably all spending more time in slippers than we used to.

Laura_Elsewhere

Yes, I am another one who is anti-slipper!

Unstructured slippers are fine if, like our grandparents, you only put them on if getting out of bed for some reason, and at bedtime and first thing, basically times when you are undressed and in the vicinity of bed!
The problem is that we spend far more hours "undressed" than people used to! And slippers not only don't support the foot, but they actually create a shuffling gait and weaken the muscles of not just the foot but the ankle too, which can cause knee and hip problems, leading to back pain (!!).

It's something I've been looking into recently, as my parents had some foot/ankle/knee problems that incapacitated each of them differently- thankfully not at the same time! I urged them to take their beloved slippers with them to the physio, and sure enough he was horrified and basically told Dad if he stops wearing those particular slippers his persistent knee and ankle problems will stop within a few months of exercises, and Mum's chiropodist was equally politely damning about her preferred slippers!
So now each has velcro-strapped, rubber-soled shoes to wear indoors, with a low but distinct heel, and a proper supportive fit. Neither of them loves the new house-shoes but both can tell the improvement in mobility in just a couple of months!

I have lace-up plimsoles which I wear with arch-support insoles, and keep for inside the flat.

maryb

I can't bear not having proper shoes on my feet and also I can't be doing with changing shoes to pop out to the garden/bin. We don't have crawling babies, I have very good doormats and I mop my kitchen floor regularly so I just keep my shoes on inside

Nelliegrace

Sad to read of the death of the Juliet Gardiner, described in The Times obituary as the historian of wartime Britain.

“She tried to get under the skin of a period by using huge quantities of anecdotal material to tell the stories of ordinary people.”

I want to read her book, The Thirties.

thriftmonster

I have that book @Nelliegrace and can recommend it although it is a veritable tome.

I also enjoyed her bits on the 1940s house programme

Nelliegrace

There is one copy on The Open Library, most of her books are available there. I started it, but someone else is reading it now, it will be at available at odd hours later. I have bought a copy on Kindle as the least expensive option. Uncle E.R.N.I.E. sent me a generous amount this month.

I listened to the writer struggling through an interesting lecture there on audio.

 “Searching for the Gleam': the quest for a new order in 1930s Britain - Juliet Gardiner”

alicef

another catch up for me (though I've seen the pics of the dress @Laura_Elsewhere - lovely!). I'm still knitting away.

a couple of roll end/remnant sale dates if people are interested in spending coupons

Minerva next End of Roll Sale is happening on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October. quote 'Come and join us at Minerva HQ in Darwen, Lancashire for a weekend full of sewing bargains'. (Atlas Road, Darwen, Lancashire BB3 2RJ)

also Merchant & Mills event described as a

tempting mixture of fabric remnants, discontinued fabrics, clothing samples (very limited) and some general odds and ends

SATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 10 - 5 Unit 8, Rye Industrial Estate, Harbour Rd, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7TE

Also found this book, (Knitting in Scotland: Culture, Craft and Industry) on the Bloomsbury Open Collections site - so is free to read https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350361744&st=knitting+in+scotland