Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

Why do supermarkets have to price match Aldi why can't they price their products cheaper so Aldi can price match them

 

Over here there is a Suburu commercial I detest. The "curious" child whose indulgent parents drive him places to show him where bunnies live, blah blah blah while the dad/driver depends on the auto braking so he can pay eye to eye attention to that smarmy kid on the back seat is an abomination. The kid even looks like a smart aleck 8 year old version of that Seymore-Hoffman actor.

Years ago there was a sponge you could buy that was painted to look like a brick. It was perfect to hurl at the people on television without cracking the set.

I wish I had one. It would work on political presentations too!

 

Why don't underpants fit like they used to, got a 3 pack and they all wear differently one inparticular keep folding up in my builders bum (no photo this time )

 

Hard to imagine how that can happen, when they are all cut out by computer-driven lasers these days! Maybe they have mixed up the sizes and mislabelled them?
Or maybe it's because the cutting method tries to fit as many as possible on the fabric so some might be cut at different angles - that could make a difference as the stretch would vary.

 

I saw a documentary about the making of clothing in a town in China. Each ‘workshop’ had a display outside of the items being made, and the price being paid, so that prospective workers could examine the structure, seams, numbers of zips etc, and decide if that was within their capabilities and would make them enough money. Not what I might have imagined.

I agree with @Escarpment that it is probably the fault of how the material is manipulated to make your underpants, @Jiffy. I’ve had the same problem with T-shirts, side seams that start near the front at the top, and somehow end up at the back by waist level.

The variation within the same size of trousers from a certain large high street chain is also baffling. If I’m shopping in store, I can often end up taking three supposedly identical versions of the same size and colour to try on, as the likelihood is that only one will actually fit.
I’ve also got a pair of trousers from the same store that have never fitted as comfortably as similar pairs in a different colour. It took me a long time ( and too long to return them) to realise that the zip opening is the other way round from my other trousers, ie the men’s version. I wonder if they were actually a pair of men’s trousers, mislabelled, which would explain why they never seem to sit properly on my more generous curves ( sounds better than overweight!)

 

I have had zips both ways in ladies trousers. Jeans seem to be the ones that most often have the zip "men's way". Being right-handed I find the men's way easier to fasten (same with buttons, but not separating zips).

 

This is why I'm grateful I taught myself to make my own clothes back in the 90s. I can choose good quality fabrics in the colours I like best, make sure everything is cut perfectly on the grain, and when I find something that works for me I can use the same pattern again and again. It's even better now that patterns are digital, so you download a PDF and it has all the sizes in it. If your size changes, you just have to print out the new size. No more of that horrible fragile tissue paper, and having to buy the pattern again if you wanted a different size!
There's lots of wonderful independent pattern designers taking advantage of this method of pattern distribution, so we're not limited to the "Big 4" (Butterick, Burda etc) any longer.
Another advantage - I haven't had to use a changing room in decades!

 

@Escarpment I've been sewing my own clothes since the late 60s and now just buy undies, t-shirts and jumpers and some outdoor jackets. The last time I bought jeans was in 2015 when I found an M&S in The Hague with a size that almost fits my curves.

I make dresses, trousers, tops, blouses, jackets, coats, fleeces, smart, casual and evening wear using multi sized Vogue, Butterick and Simplicity patterns with bust cup adjustments and cotton, linen, silk or woollen fabrics. No synthetics. My clothes last years.

When I find a winner I make it several times in different fabric colours and weights. It's rare I choose a bad style now but, if a new pattern doesn't suit me,I just wear the article for schlepping round the house.

Shoes are another matter entirely as I can't wear heels anymore but at least I can make my own handbags - leather and fabric.

 

Yes, it would be great to able to make shoes. I am a non-driver and walk everywhere, and have found with experience that I wear out expensive shoes just as quickly as cheap ones. So I stick to cheapies now; Lidl does a 6.5 (European 40) which fits me perfectly, and I've found their trainers and winter boots surprisingly durable for the price.

 

I was chatting to a friend that works at the local hospital. They are having a cull of staff members and announced 10% of the jobs were going to help save money but they wouldn't be front line staff. This has turned out to be false and many of the most experienced clinical staff have been cut, so my friend is worried if they will still have a job.
The most annoying thing is that they know of managers that have taken redundancy packages but then used loopholes to get other jobs at the hospital, so essentially they have just received a nice bonus for switching to a new job title whilst the other staff are scared they might not have a job anymore. It used to be that if a department lost a member of staff through redundancy then they weren't allowed to offer that same job for a year in that department but now it seems they just make up a new post and use it as a way to get rid of people they don't want.

 

@Escarpment and @Obelix-Vendée I agree that patterns have certainly evolved. That said, Butterick, Burda, Simplicity etc are going out of business. In the last 5 years or so, I usually use downloaded patterns, but I did take advantage of a sale off of some of their patterns.

I don't make denims or panties. But I do make pretty much everything else. I have a great bra pattern now that I make 1/2 a dozen or so at a time and find them quite comfy.

I don't like those paper patterns either. Tissue or otherwise. With the downloaded patterns that I have glued together, I place clear plastic over them, trace my size and fold up the original to stow away. The clear plastic makes it easier to do pattern placements or matching. Great for putting patch pockets on plaid jackets/coats, etc.

I do think that these patterns are highly overpriced. Yes, work goes into designing them but the cost of transmitting the file is very little. My favourite easy wear, mature woman fitting, casual top is a freebie. And I have played with variations by frankensteining it with other patterns.

I do have to moan though that the sizing still confuses me. What is a 6 in a pdf pattern is sometimes a 10 in the bought tissue ones and I do not trust their sizing charts!

 

I wonder if my underpants are also mislabelled mens but may be lady's cross dressing on the quiet