They Never Expected That!

In the old days, my parents went into the shop, selected their purchase and handed over the cash. They could see the size. and weight , and quality. Now we order online, and pay with a card, and within a few days, the product we have chosen is delivered to our door. Or is it?

Years ago I had to alter a fancy dress costume for a slim young friend. She had ordered 32/34 thinking it was the bust size. It wasn't, it was the American dress size [bust 60"+]! It could have been a 2-man tent. I altered it for her, and had an awful lot of spare camo fabric left over.

Then there are those people whose supermarket online orders come with very bizarre substitutions. "a birthday cake candle, number 5" being replaced by 2 and 3 [because 2+3 = 5!]  

And others who order patio furniture or cupboards, only to discover they are sized to fit a doll's house. One of my loveliest birthday gifts this last week was a cross stitch kit. At least, that's what my friend thought she was ordering. When it arrived, it was simply the pattern chart, printed out on three sheets of paper. She was, understandably, concerned - she had expected fabric and threads to be included. 

Was it of any use? Fortunately I have some evenweave fabric left over from the 2024 project with Kirsten. And lots of threads- all recently sorted, I can line them up with my DMC shade chart and sort out the exact threads I need. What might have been a disappointment has actually turned out to be an excellent Stash Buster. Thanks C.

Have you ever received a delivery which was not what you expected?

I'll Dye For You

From the sublime to the slime
Here's an exceedingly long and beautiful prom dress spread out on my bed. The owner is about my height. I have just shortened the frock by about 9". I will be vacuuming tiny blue sparkly sequins from the carpet for months. Really tiny, here are two beside a 20p piece.

She's my GSCE student, and it is her 16th birthday this week. It has been fun working with her, I hope she enjoys her prom. Meanwhile her younger brother is in the school play. He came home with a list of requirements for his costume - which included "Two tan shirts, one must be covered in slime"
Mum asked if I had any ideas - the price of tan shirts is too much - so I suggested getting a twinpack of white school shirts and dyeing them. Where do I get the dye? she asked. I said it could be done with a pot of coffee. "I'll dye for you!" I said. Here's A Quick Tutorial

Take the new shirts and wash them [to remove any 'dressing' in the fabric] Whilst still wet immerse them in a large pan containing 1 strong pot of coffee, one pot of stewed tea [2 tea bags] a tbsp salt and a tbsp vinegar. Bring to boil, simmer 20 minutes stirring constantly. Allow to cool, then transfer to smaller pan or bowl, and pour liquid over shirts. Put a plate or pan lid on top, weigh it down [eg 2 cans tomatoes!] to keep shirts submerged. Leave to soak overnight. Remove, rinse and spin [you can do that in your machine] Hang to dry.

One can go back in the packet, prepare the 'slime' for the other. Find some plastic bags, preferably grey, green, black. 

I used a heavyish grey refuse sack, and some 'parcel' bags [M&S dark green] and lighter green compost caddy sacks. And a blue latex glove. Cut out a 'waistcoat' from strongest bag, and lots of 'slimy dribbles' from the other bags.
Stick the dribbles down with appropriate adhesive - along the top edges so the garment does not become too stiff.
Wrap this round the shirt and stitch down the front and round the neckline. If necessary, cut the armhole slot a little bigger to allow for movement!

Zog And The Flying Doctors

Jess absolutely adores this Julia Donaldson story, about a Princess who is kept in a tower, sewing cushions when she wants to be out there practising medicine. And Liz got tickets for the theatre production as a special treat

Everybody thought Jess ought to go in costume as Princess Pearl - but the doctor's coat I made for Rosie six years ago has gone AWOL. Fortunately the crown was still in the Dressing Up Box

So last week, I made another coat - using two old pillowcases, and a shirt pattern from my Pebble Mill Set bought 40 years ago.

A stethoscope was borrowed from the Manchester cousins.

The beloved pink  " Grandma Dress" would definitely fit the bill. My machine embroidered two name tags [Dr Jessica and Princess Pearl] with velcro backs

Happy to report that the costume, and the production were both very well received! 

Please...

 Dear Grandma

I am writing to you to ask for some thing.
So for World Boock Day I would like to dress up as Penut Jones by Rob Biddulph so I’m asking if you would gladly make it for me

Yours sinserly Rosie

When you get a letter like this, from somebody special, you have to take it seriously. Somebody who has noticed that my response is frequently "I'll gladly do that for you" and takes the trouble to give 7 months notice and gives details of the author. I'd never heard of Peanut Jones. I searched the Net and discovered she was created by award winning artist Rob Biddulph.  He seems like a great guy, who wants to encourage children to draw and to write.

The intro to his first PJ book says

Drawing feels like magic to Peanut Jones. But art can't fix her problems. Her dad has gone missing, and she's stuck in a boring new school. Until the day she finds a unique pencil turbo-charged with special powers. Suddenly she's pulled into a world packed with more colour, creativity, excitement and danger than she could ever have imagined. And maybe, just maybe, she might find out what happened to her dad...

All good thus far - then I discovered this guy actually put out a tweet last February, helping people who wanted to dress as PJ for WBD. An illustration with notes. The main requirement was the bandolier. Rosie has the denim dungaree shorts and the red hair already. I ordered some stripey tights online.

So Rosie and I set to, with some rainbow coloured tape, scrap elastic, and some old crayons [really old - the sort that break when you try to sharpen them. One even said Stephanie Almond  and came from Auntie Steph's primary school pencil case c. 1991] Clever Grandad taped the long pencils tUPDATEher then cut them in half. I used the same technique as I rely on when making my pencil rolls, stitching up and down to make channels.

First trying on session - bandolier and topknot [dungarees, tights and blue tee shirt will come later] Rosie is extremely pleased with her outfit. I will be surprised if she waits till next March to wear it!

UPDATE : I just had a comment saying "Great costume Grandma, from Rob Biddulph" which really WAS there, honest. But disappeared when I tried to publish it! I am ridiculously excited that he noticed, and approves!!