A Fashionable Christmas

For some strange reason I decided the girls really needed to have fancy Christmas outfits to wear to church on Sunday. I decided this on Friday afternoon. I was envisioning simple black skits with elastic waists to go with some red shirts that they already had. I was reckoning without Girly-Girl, my 7 year-old built in fashion consultant.

Me: Oh look. Here's some $2/yard plain cotton cloth.

GG: (looking disappointed, she wanders over to the fabric bolts while I hunt for elastic. Suddenly her face lights up.) Ooooooo! Look at THIS! It's BEAUTIFUL!!!

Silly-Head: (rushing to GG's side) Ooooooo! That's SOFT!

Me: (Trying to be indulgent) Well, that is rather pretty…

Me: (looking at the $13/yard price.) AAaaaaaaaack!!!!

Clerk: (Snicker, snicker)

Me: (employing quick diversionary tactics) Let's see what else there is before we make a final choice.

All of us: (fingering various fabrics) Mumble, hmmm, Scooby Doo!!! Pink Fur! Mumble, mumble.

Suddenly…

GG: Ooooohhhhh, Mom!

SH: Ooooooo, It's SOFT!

Me: (Strolling over to examine the gorgeous black crinkled faux-suede fabric) Ooooo. It IS soft and pretty and (looking at the price) affordable. Grab it, Girly-girl, It's perfect!

GG and SH beam so brightly that the clerk dons her sunglasses.

Me: (After having the fabric cut to length) Well, that about does it, ladies. Let's go.

GG: But Mo-o-om. What about the rest of it?

Me: What "rest of it"?

We left the store with yards of fabric, elastic, red ribbon, red ruffle trim and two pair of pretty black dress shoes. Once home, I went upstairs and started cutting. Girly-Girl followed me up to make sure I was doing it right.

GG: You're going to put the ribbon here and the the red ruffle there, aren't you?

Me: (snip, snip) Uh-huh.

GG: ...and can you put a slit up the back? Long skirts need a slit.

Me: (measure, snip, snip) Uh-huh.

GG: ...and can you make us shawls out of the leftover fabric?

Me: (measuring some more and realizing that I didn't buy enough ribbon, then averting a temper tantrum - mine - by discovering a roll of perfect ribbon in my storage cabinet. Three cheers for packratting!) Uh-huh.

GG: ...and can you...

Me: (giving her "the look") Isn't it time for you to go downstairs and make something yourself?

GG: Christmas Cards!!! (She bounces down the stairs)

Me: Whew!

GG: (from far away in the distant recesses of the kitchen) Mo-o-om! How do you spell______?

Me: sigh

At any rate, I actually made it through the sewing process with no major screw-ups and no swearing AND they were finished in plenty of time.

Well, there was one itty-bitty boo-boo; I measured the girls three (count 'em!), THREE times and still managed to make Silly-head's skirt a tad too large. Fortunately, I'm a whiz with safety-pins!

I think the final results are quite nice, don't you?