'Does she do textiles at school?'

Since they went back after Christmas K & M's Scout pack have been working on their pantomime, Sky Blue and the 7 Robots, written in rhyme by Chiron, their Scout leader.  Neither K nor M wanted to take part by performing, but K decided that she wanted to make the costume for Queen Alice (the wicked queen). 

I got the impression that there was some doubt as to whether this was an achievable undertaking, so K asked if she could use my sewing machine and made a miniature version of what she was planning.  This was clearly enough to convince Chiron, so she started work on the costume itself. 

The 'mini' skirt (it's about 4" long).

She spent hours working on this, based on a design that she had in her head.  She used an old curtain and an old sheet along with some wide ribbon, all of which we had already.  She first made the skirt which she did with absolutely no help whatsoever.  Once that was pretty much finished, she started on the top, a sort of waistcoat/bodice to be worn over a white t-shirt.  It was based on measurements given by the boy who was playing Queen Alice, although more on that later and again K worked from an idea in her head.  I made a couple of suggestions, for example that given she and the actor weren't massively different in size she try it on after she'd pinned pieces together before sewing, so she could see if it was likely to sit right.  There was just one thing that I did do for her, which was the button holes (a first for me too and it took a while for me to work out and lots of attempts on a practice piece of fabric before I managed it) through which the ribbon was to be threaded.

To return to the measurements, one thing that wasn't taken into account (perhaps he hadn't decided when he gave them) was that the actor was going to stuff a pair of balloons down the top!  However, apart from meaning that the ribbon wasn't long enough to lace the bodice up as planned, it really didn't matter.  I was a very proud mummy when I overheard someone comment about how good Queen Alice's costume was on her first entrance (even if he did have the skirt on back to front! K sorted that out by the time she came on again).

The evil Queen Alice!

The pantomime was very entertaining and very much enjoyed by the audience and I think the cast too.  M had organised Queen Alice's disguise (a shawl and a walking stick, borrowed from a neighbour), baked for the cake stall and helped sell the cakes too.  And to answer the question that I was asked by one of the other Scout leaders who had clearly forgotten that we HE, no, she doesn't do textiles at school, but it doesn't seem to be holding her back!

And the designer in her own creation.