A Stitch in Time is an episode of Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures.
Synopsis[]
Raspberry is trying to make Strawberry a special dress for her upcoming poetry session, but she is struggling to get the job done and refuses to let the others help, leading Plum to suggest they help her out in secrecy. Meanwhile, Strawberry needs help with her poem and decides to go camping for inspiration.
Summary[]
Strawberry seems troubled as she asks Custard and Pupcake for advice. She goes over her poem as Mr. Longface comes in and offers his own opinion, then she asks him for advice. She's just missing a few more words but she can't figure it out. Just then, Raspberry gives her a call to ask that she stop by the boutique for a last-second fitting.
Upon arrival, Raspberry quickly measures Strawberry to show her the sketches she was preparing for the dress. Strawberry decides to leave it a surprise for now though, encouraging Raspberry knowing she will finish it in time before she takes off to return to her own shop. Where she hears her poem being read aloud by Mr. Longface. She asks what he is doing and looks over his "improvements" and asks why he was changing everything. As he answers, she remarks on how she's never seen a shooting star before after spotting this line in the new poem, Mr. Longface suggests that she would get more inspiration if she did. With nothing left to lose, Strawberry decides to close up the shop while she goes out on an impromptu camping trip.
Before she leaves, Plum comes over to see her for a moment. They chat and Plum hands over some energy bars to let Strawberry get going. On the way home she finds that Raspberry is still awake, so she decides to pay her a visit. But seeing how frazzled she's become, she offers to help her out after Raspberry expresses concern that she won't finish the dress in time. She refuses to let Plum help her as she continues working. She doesn't see Plum take some fabric and various other items before going into hiding. She returns now wearing the items, and she begins to act like a French fashion model, and her silliness manages to cheer Raspberry up. This momentarily works until Raspberry realizes she is wasting time, and she tries to resume working, but Plum insists that she go to bed for now because of how late it is. She offers to clean up for Raspberry, who hesitantly agrees and leaves for her bedroom.
As she puts away the items left out, Plum feels bad for Raspberry when she notices something. This inspires her and she quickly comes up with a plan.
Meanwhile, Strawberry is becoming very sleepy. She tries to force herself awake- missing a shooting star in the process.
Later in the evening, Plum has gathered Blueberry, Lemon, and Orange and brought them back to Raspberry's boutique. This very plan makes Blueberry recall the story of the shoemaker who had little elves helping him in secrecy. This inspires the girls further, and they decide that they must help their overworked friend.
Unfortunately, Strawberry isn't as lucky and she once again falls asleep.
Grabbing various odds-and-ends, the girls quickly begin to get to work while using Raspberry's sketches for inspiration.
By now Strawberry is worried when she sees thick storm clouds covering the sky. She isn't sure if it will clear in time, but she refuses to give up knowing her determination will pay off in the end. As long as she can stay awake until then.
Early the next morning, the girls run outside after finishing the outfit after overhearing Raspberry beginning to wake up. She comes downstairs to find the dress, just as they pretend to come inside and greet her. Raspberry admires the stress, but she tells her friends that she didn't make it. They act as though they never saw it before though, and when she wonders who could have made it, Lemon suddenly suggests that Lemon it was made by fashion elves.
Seeing how concerned Raspberry is, they try to point out that even if she didn't actually make it, it's still her design. Raspberry isn't very sure she agrees, but because she got a lot of rest she is sure she can make an even better, special dress. With that she begins to get to work.
The girls lack of sleep makes them very sleepy the following day during dance class. Plum is quick to blame Lemon for coming up with such a tall tale on the spot, suggesting they should have just been honest with her. But Lemon falls asleep and her frustrations go unheard, so she calls the class to an early end.
That night Strawberry returns to the campsite, this time with a tent to avoid getting soaked if it rains. But she gets stuck within it when the zipper gets stuck, causing her to miss the shooting star shower she came out to see.
For some energy, the berry girls sit down for snack time. Lemon worriedly brings up that they might not finish this second dress in time, and Plum suggests that instead of focusing on a single dress at a time, they should each work on separate parts and just put it together. However, when morning arrives Raspberry is left shocked by the weird dress the "elves" made. It doesn't even look like her designs; it looks like someone took several and combined them. She decides to leave a note this time, hoping that the elves will realize their first method worked better.
The next day Plum decides to come clean to Strawberry. She explains how they didn't mean to lie to Raspberry, they just wanted to help, and she wanted to tell her the truth but now she's worried that by doing this, the others will think she's putting down their efforts. With that in mind, Strawberry asks Plum to come to the Cafe around 5:00 pm, and she meets up with the others to tell them the same.
At 5:00 everyone shows up and Strawberry out smoothies in hopes of getting them to stay, seeing how frustrated they seem to be. She explains how she dislikes secret meetings, so she wanted everyone there. But before she can really talk she gets interrupted by Mr. Longface, who wanted to show her the newest additions to "her" poem. It's then Strawberry realizes what her own problem was, and she decides to confess that she was unhappy with him editing her poem. However, she decides to wait until the others leave, and it dons on them that they need to be upfront with Raspberry as well. But not wanting to disappoint her, they decide to work together on a final dress.
Like the first day, the girls pretend to leave and enter the shop as Raspberry wakes up and comes downstairs. She's gotten used to oversleeping as of late because of the elves, and is in awe over the pretty dress they made today. Despite this, she doesn't feel very happy- which Lemon notices and questions. Raspberry explains that while it's lovely, she can't take credit for the dress since she didn't make it. But she has one more day to make something and decides she will just need to finish it on her own, leading Plum to finally confess that they made up the story about the fashion elves.
Surprisingly, Raspberry is very happy by this and she thanks them for their honesty. It's then Plum gets another idea, one that will allow Raspberry to make her outfit, but will allow them to help her in another way.
Meanwhile, Strawberry admits the truth to Mr. Longface and he apologizes for taking over her poem. But while he feels bad, he's become happier now because this experience has re-awakened his love of poetry, and now he can work on his own. Strawberry is satisfied with this result and resumes work on her poem.
Later, Raspberry reveals her brand new, special dress to Strawberry, who delightfully thanks her for her hard work. That evening, Strawberry wears the beautiful new dress and reads her poem to everyone.
Quotes[]
Lessons[]
Plum and the others learn that when helping others, it's important not to overstep boundaries and do their work for them. It's also a bad idea to make an excuse, because eventually they dug a hole that they found hard to get out of and were only making their lives harder.
Strawberry also learns the importance of being honest with someone who is overstepping their boundaries in their attempt to help.
Trivia[]
- This is the first time in the series that the girls group together in order to help someone else.
- Bosley Bookworm is seen briefly at the final scene. This is his first appearance in the show, until his formal introduction in "Berry Bitty World Record".
External links[]
- A Stitch in Time at the Internet Movie Database