A few days before Lore's 92nd Birthday, Padaduli bought a new dress for grandmother to wear to her party . A very pretty white tunic top, with pink trim. Lore loved the top and said ,"Let's try in on, just to be sure." Well, she tried it on and had a complete meltdown. The bell shaped sleeves hung way below her fingertips, the dress was too tight across her tummy, and too short to be a dress and too long for a tunic. She also couldn't imagine what kind of pants to wear it with. Anything she had in the closet just didn't go.
I made a quick calculation of the correct sleeve length and told her I could fix them.
"I know how to sew." she snapped. "You don't do this." She was confused and angry and frustrated with being confused.
"I just won't go." was the final answer to the whole unfixable dilemma.
Awww. It's her birthday. She has to be happy with what she's wearing. She may be 92, but she's still a woman who cares about how she's dressed.
So the tunic was put out of sight and out of mind in the back of the closet.
And the whole issue of the dress and any talk of the event was laid to rest. Any reminder of the upcoming party would only rekindle the question of 'what to wear?' And we don't want to go there....not right now.
This.... is another covert operation to be done under the cover of darkness.
The night before the party, after Lore had gone to bed, I got out my partner in crime- the sewing machine.
I got out the dress, laid it on the table and studied how to fix the problem. If I made the sleeves more narrow, then the part that is cut off could be added to the side seam and it wouldn't be so tight across her tummy. Then, take up the sleeves. and shorten the tunic hem. That's easy. So I set to work with scissors and machine. It took a little bit of doing, but all in all, it was a pretty easy project and came out quite nicely.
But now....does it fit? That's the question.
Earlier in the day, I had gone out shopping and found a nice pair of basic white pants.
On the day of the party, I reminded her of the evening event and she asked, "Do I have something to wear?" We went into her room and I laid out the tunic and pants on her bed. When it came time to dress for the party, I helped her into the new clothes. As the tunic went over her head, I held my breath....did it fit?
Like a dream.... it fit perfectly!. She was so happy and looked so pretty. Party perfect for a memorable occasion...one that we'll remember.
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