Sew hard

I think I've achieved the unachievable this weekend, I made a teenager happy! So happy in fact that I was left in an alternating state of euphoria and amazement. I always know when Big sister's going out that there will be the usual lament of lack of clothes to wear. I wish I had her lack of clothes. If all her clothes ever got to the wardrobe instead of the back of the chair you would not be able to close the door on them she has so many. Strangely though whenever it's time to go out she always has "nothing to wear". So I had been waiting for this to happen in the run up to Saturday. Big Sister being a sensitive soul realised that now was not a good time to ask for some money for clothes shopping, she being the one with the most disposable income at present in the Ragged Roses household.




I have long admired her long range ability to zoom in on any food that has been brought into the house, As I walk through the door after a visit to the supermarket she is down the stairs like a shot, It seems that now she is showing the same magpie-ish talent for fabric. After a week full of compliments on the tartan taffeta I was using to make some Christmas goodies, I realised that something was afoot ... Could I, would I pleeeeeeeese make her a tulip shaped tartan skirt and a t shirt with a black crow on it for Saturday night. Also as she wouldn't be around much until Saturday, would I mind spending all of Saturday doing it? Now, I am not a dressmaker, I do not own any patterns and as I've said before have resorted to staples and glue guns for fancy dress costumes and school plays. Fortunately the stars were shining on me and I got it right!
The skirt fitted just right at the nipped in high waist, billowed at the hips and ended a couple of inches above the knees (don't ask me how I managed it). The crow on the t shirt was just the right crow, just the right size and just the right colour (and, no I'm still none the wiser about the crow! The fuzziness of the photo below shows, I'd like to think, Big Sister's reluctance to stand still and her impatience to get back to her GCSE revision - haha)



Watching Strictly Come Dancing that evening with Little Sister and wowing at all the high scores I wondered if I perhaps might even have got a 9 or 10, not for my saucy salsa or raunchy rumba (let's keep my mum dancing out of this) - not even for my poor dressmaking skills, but for that rare and quite elusive thing - a moment of complete understanding between mother and teenage daughter. Please excuse my five minutes of glory ...