The last couple of days have seen much pattern perusal, cutting out, sewing, overlocking, ironing, yapping and laughter, as the paternal and maternal grandmothers of my Wellington granddaughters held a concentrated sewing bee that produced six dresses and five pairs of trousers.

Sandy Barker, Liz MacGibbon and the omnipresent Chino doing their sweatshop thing on the dining room table. Click to enlarge.

Chloe and Jessica MacGibbon and their cousins Erin and Ciara will be warm in the coming winter.