UK Wedding News
03/07/2012
For a new Channel 4 series, Thelma’s Gypsy Girls, she shows 10 traveller girls how to design and make dresses. The show will follow the teenagers working in her new shop and competing to be the best dressmaker.
Thelma worried about the daunting task: "After the first day I cried my eyes out and thought ‘what have I done?’.
“My vision was to see them all sat in lines sewing and me saying ‘this is how you do it’.
“What I didn’t realise is they don’t act like 16 or 17-year-olds.
"They were more like 10 or 11-year-olds because they finished school at 11.
“They had no social skills at all or any idea how to behave in the workplace. It was chaos and a bit of a nightmare.
“I found out most of them couldn’t read or write. Some couldn’t tell the time so we had them asking what the time was – and even what day it was.
“You would tell them we were doing something on Monday and they would ask ‘when is Monday?’.
“It knocked me back. We are in the 21st century – I was really shocked.”
“When gypsy girls come in to see me they don’t seem to have anything else in their head other than getting married,” explains Thelma, who says she’s in her 50s but won’t be more specific.
“I know it does me favours but they don’t know any other way because they leave school so young. It’s all about that big day.
“The travellers have put me where I am today and I thought it would be nice to try to give something back to them.
“I thought I could teach some of them a trade where they could get a job and let them see what it’s like to earn money. So I came up with this idea.
“When we did an open day we had loads of girls turn up. I picked 10 and the rest is history.”
(GK)
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Thelma Madine Teaches Dressmaking 'Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Style'
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings dressmaker Thelma Madine has has begun teaching traveller girls how to make her signature wedding gowns.For a new Channel 4 series, Thelma’s Gypsy Girls, she shows 10 traveller girls how to design and make dresses. The show will follow the teenagers working in her new shop and competing to be the best dressmaker.
Thelma worried about the daunting task: "After the first day I cried my eyes out and thought ‘what have I done?’.
“My vision was to see them all sat in lines sewing and me saying ‘this is how you do it’.
“What I didn’t realise is they don’t act like 16 or 17-year-olds.
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"They were more like 10 or 11-year-olds because they finished school at 11.
“They had no social skills at all or any idea how to behave in the workplace. It was chaos and a bit of a nightmare.
“I found out most of them couldn’t read or write. Some couldn’t tell the time so we had them asking what the time was – and even what day it was.
“You would tell them we were doing something on Monday and they would ask ‘when is Monday?’.
“It knocked me back. We are in the 21st century – I was really shocked.”
“When gypsy girls come in to see me they don’t seem to have anything else in their head other than getting married,” explains Thelma, who says she’s in her 50s but won’t be more specific.
“I know it does me favours but they don’t know any other way because they leave school so young. It’s all about that big day.
“The travellers have put me where I am today and I thought it would be nice to try to give something back to them.
“I thought I could teach some of them a trade where they could get a job and let them see what it’s like to earn money. So I came up with this idea.
“When we did an open day we had loads of girls turn up. I picked 10 and the rest is history.”
(GK)
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