Sweatshops

25Sep09

I return from an overnight trip to Reading to find that the house has been transformed into a third world sweat shop.

A veritable hive of activity greets me as I enter: hisses of steam rise from the iron, the electric sewing machine whirrs, scissors snip at fabric. The low paid (alright unpaid) workforce is chatting away on the production line. MOB is on ironing duty, our neighbour is at the sewing machine (well it does belong to her) and even BOB1 (Brother of the Bride 1) has been press ganged into fabric preparation.

On closer inspection the mini factory is transforming roll-ends of curtain material into strings of bunting, and I must admit they look pretty neat. Triangles of fabric are cut, stiched together and bound to create a colourful line of miniature flags which will flutter in the breeze. Part way through the production line, the pennants look like small, colourful, cone shaped hats – I wonder what else they could be used for? Some form of conical soft toy? Traffic cones? Beaks maybe?

When the wedding is over, I am assured, there will be many other occasions that will demand strings of bunting for decoration and there’s always eBay.

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