Pirates of the Vale
in the early morning of July 13th, 2007
The other day Miss 10 along with Heckyl and Jeckyl gave me the usual night before warning that they were supposed to go to school dressed up as pirates.
Yikes! Okay, no sweat. A little bit of imagination and lateral thinking was in need.
I take after my dearly departed Dad (Tata in Polish) who was affectionally called a Magpie. He hoarded every piece of scrap metal, timber and other odds and sods that my Mum couldn’t find and trash. Whilst I haven’t cultivated a desire to collect everything, I seem to have an abundance of umm stuff. Worthwhile stuff of course!
Lets see, I have metres and metres of assorted fabrics because one day I may decide to take up sewing. Then of course there’s a plethora of crafty things like assorted craftwood, after all, one day I may find that perfect country cottage and want to paint a Home Sweet Home sign and serve soft boiled eggs in hand painted egg cups.
Then there’s the assortment of beads, scrap leather, rolls of assorted elastic, skeins of embroidery cotton and silk. Add artificial flowers, styrofoam, florists wire, glues, artists paints, watercolours and on and on and on.
I’m not a Magpie. Okay, maybe I have a small obsession but it’s all come in very handy at some point. Speaking of point, it’s time I got to mine. Naturally, having such a varied collection of items, they save me time and again in a pinch.
Black stretch fabric was cut into long strips and worn a la Johnny Depp fashion from the series of Pirate movies he’s become infamous for.
Eye patches for the boys were fashioned from black leather and secured with clear elastic.
A White shirt borrowed from me for Miss 10 and two from Dad for the boys, were cinched at the waist with wide suede belts I used to wear back in the 80’s. It all worked a treat trimmed with long skinny strips of black leather tied off at the elbows for billowy sleeves.
Pirate camaflouge trousers that I bought for the boys in Australia worked perfectly while Miss 10 with her velvet trousers and boots looked the part.
It was simple. It was fun and it worked.
What flabbergasted me and drove me to post was the fact that the majority of parents bought costumes for their kids for the one day!
Either they have more money than sense or it’s a case of keeping up with the Jones’s. As a stepmom to four kids, working long hours, keeping house, cooking and all the other tasks that vie for attention, I don’t buy the “I don’t have time” speech. It took me half an hour the night before to get their simple outfits ready.
I don’t know about you, but I want these kids to remember the fun in getting the outfits fashioned from imagination instead of a memory of going to ASDA.
