Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Little sew and sew

Last weekend I dusted off my trusty sewing machine to make a fancy dress outfit.

I must have lost my touch because instead of a costume fit for Aladdin's princess, all it needed was some shocking pink platform shoes and she could have gone as a 70s disco diva.

My sewing machine has made periodical appearances over the years, helping out my daughters with curtains, cushion covers and the like. Give me anything square or oblong and I'm a whizz on the machine, but turning fabric into fashion is beyond me.

I remember when my granddaughter Caitlin was six she had a toy sewing machine for her birthday.

Obviously, it was down to nanny to show her how to use it so she brought it with her for a sleepover at my house and we entered the world of dolly fashions.

She had her own ideas for the dolls outfit - things had certainly changed since I had a doll. Mine used to wear bonnets, cardis and little booties all knitted by my older sister and it cried 'mama' when I tipped it over.

Barbie-dolls
But Caitlin's doll was a teenage Barbie. It took hours to make the paper pattern and pin it to Caitlin's chosen material then with great concentration she cut it out, her jaws chomping with every stroke of the scissors. She did a great job with the pinking shears.

I realised just how much she enjoyed cutting out when I saw the hole in her sheet the next morning when I was making the beds!

Eventually we got down to the business of figuring out how a toy sewing machine works (nothing like a real one I might add) and it did the job brilliantly. 

Caitlin was delighted with the finished outfit, and we'd even made a matching pair of socks out of the scraps. Just one snag... in our haste to begin we forgot to measure the doll first.

So if anyone out there has a hunchbacked, one-armed Barbie with club feet, I've got just the outfit for her.