I do not sew!

Alterations shops are lifesavers to me.

Well, maybe this isn’t a big deal to those of you who are seamstresses, but, unfortunately, I am not in that group. I do not sew. At all.

In case of emergency, I have been known to use Scotch tape to repair a hemline. Otherwise, I rely on safety pins for emergency situations.

So, years ago, when Tiffany, my older daughter, was in kindergarten, I was less than thrilled when she said to me one Thursday night, “Oh, Mom, I forgot. I need a costume for the play tomorrow. I’m a lamb.”

Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target and such places don’t stock lamb costumes on a regular basis. Nor does anyone else. It was time to be creative.

I went to the closest drugstore and bought several bags of cotton balls. If I remember correctly, there were 300 - 360 in a bag. Then, back at home, I got a pair of my daughter’s white tights and an old white, long-sleeved blouse. I proceeded to glue cotton balls all over the tights and blouse. Certainly, covered head to toe in cotton balls, she would look like a soft lamb on the following day.

Well, the glue didn’t dry. Panicked, I decided to put the cotton ball-covered shirt and tights in the dryer to dry the glue.

It worked! Both were totally dry when I took them out of the dryer. Of course, they were more than dry. Do you know what happens to glued items when they dry like that? They were absolutely stiff!!!!!

The cotton-ball laden tights could stand up without a body inside them! The blouse had arms (sleeves) that stretched out by themselves.

I had to lift up my kindergarten daughter and then place her into the stiffened tights and blouse. It was a perfect fit!

She was adorable and so sweet. Of course, she couldn’t bend her legs or her arms as she moved about on stage. She was molded into the costume.

Funny thing: she’s not smiling on any of the pictures from that day!

- copyright 2008 - Sherry Shealy Martschink