Not Quite Flannel Friday: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat/Something for Nothing

Ever since I saw this on pinterest I've been looking for a good story to adapt to the nesting doll approach. I settled on Something for Nothing or Joseph Had a Little Overcoat- an old Yiddish folksong about a man who's favorite piece of clothing keeps getting re purposed into something smaller and smaller. I based my drawings on Simms Tabek's Caldecott winning version, but I changed the number of garments to a more manageable number and I use a version of the story that I learned in a storytelling workshop.

Joseph had a jacket and he LOVED this jacket. Wore it EVERYWHERE. Now his wife Sara HATED that jacket, she was always after him to get rid of it.

One day, Joseph was reaching way up high on the top shelf when RIIIIIIIIP his jacket ripped.

Sara was so excited, he'd finally have to get rid of it. But then she saw how much Joseph loved his jacket. So she got out her scissors and went snip, snip, snip. Then she got her needle and thread and went sew, sew, sew and she turned his jacket into...

A VEST!

Joseph had a vest and he LOVED this vest. Wore it EVERYWHERE. Now his wife Sara HATED that vest, she was always after him to get rid of it.

One day, Joseph was eating soup, slurp, slur, slurp when suddenly he spilled all over his vest. Totally ruined.

Sara was so excited, he'd finally have to get rid of it. But then she saw how much Joseph loved his vest. So she got out her scissors and went snip, snip, snip. Then she got her needle and thread and went sew, sew, sew and she turned his vest into...

A SCARF!

Joseph had a scarf and he LOVED this scarf. Wore it EVERYWHERE. Now his wife Sara HATED that scarf, she was always after him to get rid of it.

One day, Joseph was taking a walk by the pond when a goose jumped up and bit a hole right in the middle of the scarf.

Sara was so excited, he'd finally have to get rid of it. But then she saw how much Joseph loved his scarf. So she got out her scissors and went snip, snip, snip. Then she got her needle and thread and went sew, sew, sew and she turned his scarf into...

A HANDKERCHIEF!

Joseph had a handkerchief and he LOVED this handkerchief. Blew his nose in it ALL THE TIME. Now his wife Sara HATED that handkerchief, she was always after him to get rid of it.

One day, when Joseph got home he realized that he didn't have his handkerchief anymore; it had fallen out of his pocket.

He went to Sara and said "Well, I've really done it this time. Not even you can make something out of nothing." "I don't know," said Sara "I think we've got a pretty good story to tell!"

 

                                      

I workshoped this prop on some first graders that I was doing an outreach story time for. Reactions ranged from "You made magic!" to "He should have a dog" and "You shouldn't repeat yourself so much." I didn't tell them that the point of repetition was so they could be a part of the story too, but most of the kids were snip, snip, snip and sew, sew, sewing along with Sara by the end of the second "chorus." I think it'll work better with the slightly older crowd and plan to make it a regular part of my outreach kit.


A few notes of the actual process: The tutorial provided at the link is great, really all you need to make them successfully. I would err on the side of making the pieces bigger rather than smaller. My smallest one is the same size as the tutorial's smallest one and it's too small for me to fit my entire hand into. I also drew on the figures before   I sewed the back piece on and completely forgot about things like seam allowances. That's why Joseph doesn't have any hands on the first few dolls. The last thing I did, that you can't really see in the pictures, was to run a single zig-zag stitch across the bottom of each white front piece to prevent extra fraying. A quick turned up and pressed hem would work as well but I like the kind of rustic look, especially for this story.

I absolutely love this prop and if anyone knows of any other "big things getting smaller" stories, I'd love to do a few more.