Stitching with Elli

Elizabeth went to check the mail because she was expecting a package.  Is there anything there?

Yes!!!

She hurried to the house to open it.

Nellie was in the entry way and wanted to know what it was. “I think it is my shoes!!” said Elizabeth. She was very excited because as she told Nellie she had badly been needing shoes for a long time.

“Hurry up and open it!” said Nellie enthusiastically.

“Ummm….Elizabeth? what kind of shoes did you get?” asked Nellie.

“That isn’t my shoes!” Elizabeth exclaimed trying to hide her disappointment. They kept unwrapping…

 

“What is that??” asked Susan and Felicity who had just come up.

“We aren’t exactly sure.” Nellie explained “Elizabeth thought it was her shoes, but as you can see…it isn’t shoes.”

“Maybe this part is a hat!” said Susan enthusiastically, throwing it over Felicity’s head.

Even Elizabeth (who was feeling pretty gloomy) giggled at that.

“How do I look?” asked Felicity putting on her most ridiculous queenly manner to make them laugh.

“What about the rest? what does it look like?” she asked.

“I guess it is a dress, but it looks funny” replied Elizabeth.

“umm, well it has nice bright colors!” said Nellie trying to be enthusiastic. “It is monogrammed! that is very popular these days” said Susan.

“But..but my name doesn’t start with “S”!!” sniffed Elizabeth her lip trembling…”and even if it did start with s…. it is a backwards “S” I don’t want to be backwards!!”

There was a pause while they all looked at each other, trying to think of something encouraging to say. But the truth was none of them had ever seen anything like it. They weren’t sure what to think about it.

“Maaaybe it is a nightgown? and the “S” stands for “sleep”? suggested Felicity.

“Oh look there is Ellen!” said Nellie “maybe she can figure out what kind of a dress this is”.

Ellen looked at it for a second…pushed up her glasses and said…”that is a Superman dress”

Everyone stared at her.

Then the questions started.

“What is that?” …”How do you know?” …” Why is it a superMAN but a dress?” …”what is a superman??”

“I know because of that “S” right there. I saw a movie once with superman in it.” She replied calmly. “Oh well I guess if none of you know what Super man is, I can explain it to you. Lets all go sit down and I’ll tell you about it.”

Elizabeth still seemed upset, “but I needed shoes”, she mumbled softly to herself as she put away the scissors.  Felicity passed the dress off to Susan and whispered to her to remove the offending object from view.

Then they all gathered in the living room where Ellen delivered a lecture on “The Origins and Characteristics of the Fictional Character Superman” (she was very fond of long lecture titles).

She explained that he could fly….and he posed as a mild mannered reporter named Clark Kent.

Felicity raised her hand.

“Yes?” asked Ellen looking over her glasses at her.

“Why didn’t anyone ever recognize him? I could tell it was the same person before you even explained that part.”

“That is a very good question,” answered Ellen “and one that has baffled people for a long time. But the important thing to remember is that this is FICTION and that means it isn’t a true story.”

“oh” said Felicity.

Ellen went on to explain the fact that he was supposed to be very very fast (faster than a speeding bullet to be specific) and could jump really high (higher than a tall building) as well as fly. At which point Susan asked why did you need to jump really high if you could fly….Ellen said she didn’t know. She starting talking about the “fiction” word again.

Nellie started wildly waving her hand.

“If I wear the cape can I fly????”

Ellen groaned..”No no no!! it is fiction Nellie!!”

Just for extra emphasis she wrote on the board….

While brandishing her pointer for dramatic emphasis she launched into a speech about the dangers of attempting to fly and the horrible things that could happen if one tried. Things like scratched noses…….banged head…plus a very ominous sounding “or worse”which she did not clarify further.

The lecture was interrupted when they all noticed that Elizabeth truly was upset and disappointed because she really really wanted shoes…and she didn’t like the dress at all, it wasn’t pretty.

Felicity and Nellie who were the sitting the closest to her gave her a hug and comforted her. Assuring her that Emily would get her shoes soon, and not to worry.

Then Bonnie and Josefina suggested they play a game to get everyone’s mind off it. They went off to bring a game….but Nellie had a different idea.

She enlisted Susan and Felicity to help her…

“Elizabeth look at me!!!”

“I can fly!!!”

“Oh my! Be careful!!” exclaimed Elizabeth.

“Nobody listens to me” grumbled Ellen “I try to warn them and they insist upon being dangerous…”

Nellie just laughed and said she had Felicity and Susan keeping her safe.

Susan had her heels dug in tight to make sure no one actually fell off.

Elizabeth was very anxious…she jumped up to catch Nellie if she fell.

Eventually the goofiness settled down.

The next day the other girls got together and decided to try to fix this for Elizabeth…So Josefina and Bonnie got out their sewing materials (Emily was too busy to help them this time, so they were tackling it on their own. Fortunately they had sewing experience as we saw in this post.)

First they took off the “S”…and then they started trying out different trims and experimenting with adding fabric…

They pinned and stitched… and tried different things.

Finally they all agreed they were getting close.

Bonnie said she still just didn’t like the blue in it…it just didn’t look right.

Then Josefina had the brilliant idea of using the cape for extra red fabric and covering up the blue. They all agreed that was the perfect idea and set to work to finish it!

When they finished, they all got together to find Elizabeth and present it to her. They also had found a pair of shoes to match the dress for her!

Nellie peeked around the wall and saw she was reading on the couch so they all gathered to go see her together.

“Come down! we have a surprise for you” they excitedly called.

“What is it? she asked as she slid down… and then “oooooo it is so prettty!!!”

Then everyone was talking at once….”It is the superman dress!” …”Bonnie and Josefina re-made it for you!!”…. “so you could have something pretty!!” “look there are shoes too!!!!” “Red shoes for the dress and black shoes for everyday wear!!”…. “Go try it on!!!!”

They were all very eager to see her try it on. Everyone was whispering excitedly to each other in anticipation as they waited for Elizabeth to come out with the dress on.

There she is!! Everybody ooo-ed and ahh-ed enthusiastically over her.

Then they insisted she go outside and get  what they call “pretty pictures” taken.

She wanted everyone to notice her red shoes too. 😀

Nellie teased her into putting the “S” back on for one picture…she said she made a pretty fancy looking superwoman 😉

I think Elizabeth looked happier without it. She was said she had the best friends in the world to be willing to work so hard to help her. She was grateful they would do that much, just to keep her from being  disappointed. I think they did a fantastic job turning something that could have been upsetting into something pretty.

What do you think? did the dolls do well remaking the dress?

p.s Ellen wanted me to point out that this story is NOT fiction…because they really did get a superman dress in the mail when they didn’t order it. Plus it really did get turned into a pretty dress instead. Therefore….this is a True story. 😉