Being a father, you get constant requests to fix and repair various toys and other bits and pieces. Most of the things that I'm asked to fix, I can do easily enough. Due to my extreme computer nerdiness, I have an array of small tools and precision screwdrivers, so the tiny screws and various bits that hold toys together are not much of a challenge for these tools.

However, once in a while, I'm called upon to fix something that is a little bit out of the area of my expertise. The other day, on the ferry ride, I was asked to do something that I've been dreading for a while, that I've let my wife handle previously.

The mission

Now, "How hard could it be to dress a doll?", I hear you ask! Take a close look at the way that her hands are splayed open, and then take a look at the dress with the fabric ready to catch on every one of those fingers (and thumb). Take into account that any rip (or broken finger) is a fail state for the mission of "dressing Ariel".

This was going to be a tough mission with only one acceptable outcome (given that dumping it on my wife again was not option!).

Note that in the above picture, I had already managed to do one arm, which took a good 15 minutes of slowly shuffling the sleeve around the tiny bony stick fingers, being extra careful that nothing caught and nothing ripped. Only after doing the first arm did I think that I could make a little ulog out of it, and I wasn't sadistic (or is that masochistic) enough to remove the arm from the sleeve to begin again (which takes incredibly little effort and can be done in a few seconds with a quick tug).

Ascending the second arm

After taking a quick coffee break (Father Union rules, no longer than 15 minutes on the job without a quick break!), I made a start on the second arm! The first part was super easy, as there was nothing for the fingers to get caught on.

However, this is where the process gets quite tricky. Careful shuffling of the fabric around the fingers, alternating sides and going slowly around the hand was the only way forward. Every millimetre (0.983572984 ant strides) was a hard fought victory, this was worse than the protracted trench warfare of the First World War, although it was noticeably less bloody...

I realised a little late that the fingers were also flexible, which meant that the fabric could slip past, but then the fingers would spring back and push the fabric back in the best case, or get caught on the fabric in the worst case!

Success!

Two arms finally done, and Ariel was ready to attend whatever fictional ball or wedding that she was supposed to be ready for. Not a bad job if I say so myself! No wonder the ladies of old needed so many maids-in-waiting to help dress them, if this doll was any indication, it's much harder to get dressed in a ball gown than I had originally would have thought!