A Stitch in Time is the second episode of Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures.
Synopsis[]
Raspberry is trying to make Strawberry a special dress for her upcoming poetry session but struggles to come up with something special enough and is running on little sleep. Because she refuses to let the others help, Plum suggests they help her 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. He offers an opinion and she asks for advice, she's missing a few more words but can't figure them out. Just then, Raspberry gives her a call to ask that she stop by the boutique for a last-second fitting.
Upon arrival, Raspberry measures Strawberry and shows her the sketches she has been working on for the dress. Strawberry would rather it be a surprise though, encouraging Raspberry to do her berry best, knowing she will finish it in time. She leaves, returning to the cafe in time to overhear her poem being read aloud by Mr. Longface. She asks for an explanation and looks over his "improvements", and asks why he thought a change was necessary. She suddenly becomes inspired by what he tells her, realizing that she's never seen a shooting star before. Mr. Longface suggests that she would get more inspiration if she did, and Strawberry decides to take him up on the idea, closing the cafe for an impromptu camping trip.
It's then Plum comes over to pay her a visit, offering her some energy bars that she has on hand. They chat and Plum takes off, deciding to let Strawberry get going. On the way home she finds that Raspberry is still awake and stops by to see her. She offers to lend Raspberry a hand seeing how frazzled she's become over finishing on time, but Raspberry refuses. She continues to work, unaware that Plum grabs some of the fabric and other items, then hides so that she doesn't see her until she's dressed. She returns while acting like a famous, french fashion model to raise Raspberry's mood. This does the trick, until Raspberry realizes that she's just wasting time. Plum insists that she go to bed for now because of how late it is, offering to straighten up the shop for her. Raspberry hesitantly agrees and leaves for bed.
Plum is worried for Raspberry, and while putting things away she happens to become inspired after noticing something.
Meanwhile, Strawberry is becoming very sleepy. She tries to force herself awake, missing a shooting star in the process.
Later that evening, Plum has gathered Blueberry, Lemon and Orange and brought them back to Raspberry's boutique. She tells them her plan and Blueberry connects it to the story of the shoemaker who had little elves help him in secrecy. The girls are further inspired and want to 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.
The girls are still working as morning arrives, and the moment they hear Raspberry they quickly retreat for outside, having just finished the dress. She comes downstairs to find it, just as they pretend to come inside for the first time that day and greet her. Raspberry admires the dress and tells them that she didn't make it, after they compliment her. They act as though they never saw it before, causing her to wonder who made it. Lemon suddenly suggests that Lemon it was made by fashion elves. Raspberry is concerned and they try to get her not to worry about it, saying that it's still her design even if she didn't make it. Raspberry isn't sure but she decides that because she got so much rest, she can make an even better dress now. She begins to get to work and the girls leave to let her.
However, they are shown suffering throughout the day due to their lack of sleep. During dance class they struggle to stay focused, leading Plum to blame Lemon for coming up with such a tall tale in the first place. They should have just been honest with Raspberry. By this point, she realizes Lemon fell asleep and didn't hear her, so she decides to end class early.
That night Strawberry returns to the campsite, this time with a tent to avoid getting soaked if it rains. But while inside of it, she gets stuck because the zipper gets caught in the material. This causes her to miss the shooting star she was on her way out to see.
The girls get together for snack in hopes of giving themself some energy. Lemon worriedly brings up that they might not finish this second dress, and Plum suggests that instead of focusing on a single dress, they should each work on separate parts of different dresses and put them together afterwards.
The next day, Raspberry comes out of her room and expresses shock at the sight of the weird dress made by the "elves". It looks nothing like her designs, it looks like someone took several different pieces of designs and then combined them to make one dress. She decides to leave a note for them, hoping the elves will realize their first method was fine.
The next day Plum decides to come clean to Strawberry. 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 the other girls will get upset and think she's putting down their efforts. With that in mind, Strawberry asks Plum to come to the Cafe around 5:00 pm. She heads out to let the other girls know.
At 5:00 everyone shows up and Strawberry makes some smoothies for them to convince them to stay and let her talk, noticing how frustrated they are from lack of sleep. She dislikes secret meetings, so she wanted everyone there. 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 that she should have honestly told him how she felt about him changing her poem, but she decides to wait until the others leave, not wanting to embarrass him. This causes the other girls to realize that they need to be upfront with Raspberry too. But they don't want to disappoint her, so they agree to make one last dress.
The next morning, the girls pretend to leave and re-enter the shop as Raspberry wakes up and comes to the main room to see what happened this time. She admits that she's gotten used to sleeping in late because of the elves helping her recently, and she admires their pretty dress. However, the girls notice she isn't happy today. Raspberry explains that it's quite lovely, but she can't take credit for a dress she didn't make. She still has one more day to make something though, and she will finish it on her own. Plum decides to confess the truth to her then, and to their surprise, Raspberry isn't upset with them at all. She happily thanks them for being honest with her, and Plum comes up with a new idea. One that will allow Raspberry to make her outfit, but let them help her another way.
Meanwhile, Strawberry is telling Mr. Longface the truth about her poem and how she feels. He apologizes for taking over it, and admits that this experience has re-awakened his love of poetry. He's going to work on his own now. Strawberry is satisfied with this result and resumes work on her poem.
Before debuting the poem that evening, Strawberry stops by Raspberry's to visit her and see the finalized dress. She's delighted with it and wears the dress during the poem reading.
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 excuses or lie rather than tell the truth, because it caused them to struggle with their daily lives to keep up the charade.
Meanwhile, Strawberry 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 in the final scene. This is his first appearance in the show, until his introduction in "Berry Bitty World Record".
External links[]
- A Stitch in Time at the Internet Movie Database