Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker

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Thelma Madine. Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker

Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker. Thelma Madine

Dedication

Contents

Prologue

Introduction

1. The Tale of How It All Began

2. The Tale of the First Communion Dresses

3. The Tale of My First Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Dress

4. The Tale of a Love Gone Bad

5. The Tale of a Nightmare Come True

6. The Tale of Life Within Prison Walls

7. The Tale of the Motherless Child

8. The Tale of a Not So Happy Ever After

9. The Tale of the Unpaid Bill

10. The Tale of the Girl Who Dreamed of Being a ‘Swan Pumpkin’

11. The Tale of the Size 26 Bridesmaid

12. The Tale of the Bartering Brother

13. The Tale of the Dancing Kids

14. The Tale of the Groom Who Was Nicked at the Altar

15. The Tale of What Happened Next

Acknowledgements

Picture Section

Picture Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

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I’d like to dedicate this book to the

travelling community.

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I was still trying to make everything myself, but with all these new orders coming in that was becoming impossible. So I asked a seamstress called Audrey, who I used to work with, to help me. Audrey had actually taught me to sew properly a few years back when I had my first children’s clothes business, so she knew exactly what to do. Then we got another girl, Angela, and there were three of us doing it. We still had to work all week, with me working every night to get them done, though. The bonnets used to take the longest to do because Angela and Audrey found them tricky – maybe they hadn’t watched Gone With the Wind as many times as I had. They gave it a good go, but their bonnets weren’t quite as detailed as I knew they should be, so I had to do them myself, which was a nightmare as each one took about three hours to make. Finally, after lots of practice, I got the making time down to an hour.

By November I was getting loads more customers, so I thought I might start doing boys’ outfits as well, as not many people were doing them. I started to make suits with little matching caps with feathers, or with a big, droopy tassel – like an emperor’s hat. I also made old-fashioned Oliver Twist-style suits and caps. I got a reputation for doing boys’ suits then. But I have to admit that these were no ordinary suits. Seeing pictures of them now reminds me of all those nights I stayed up to get them finished in time for the market. They were so over the top, but that’s why I loved making them.

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