The house is Number 9, College Court, standing beside the ancient St Michael’s Gate and very close to Gloucester Cathedral.
The inspiration for the story came in May 1894 when Beatrix Potter was staying with her cousin, Caroline Hutton. Whilst at the Hutton’s home, Harescombe Grange, which lies five miles south of Gloucester, Caroline told Beatrix the curious tale of a local Tailor, John Pritchard. Closing his shop one Friday evening, with a waistcoat cut out but not sewn together, he was surprised to discover when, on the Monday morning he opened the shop again, that apart from one button hole, the waistcoat had been sewn together. A tiny note was pinned to the button hole which read, “no more twist”. The Tailor was amazed and bewildered that the work had been finished short of completion. From this date, John Pritchard advertised his work had been "made at night by fairies". On hearing this, Beatrix requested that they visit Gloucester the next day to visit the Tailor’s shop. Whilst visiting, Beatrix sketched some of the beautiful buildings in the cathedral city of Gloucester.
Presumably, Beatrix Potter had already formed the story in her mind but it was not until 1901 that the tale was committed to paper as a Christmas present for the daughter of one of her tutors, Freda Moore.
Because you are fond of fairy-tales, and have been ill, I have made you a story all for yourself – a new one that nobody has read before. And the queerest thing about it is – that I heard it in Gloucestershire, and that it is true – at least about the tailor, the waistcoat, and the “No more twist!”
Christmas, 1901
Beatrix later reworked the story and this became the edition Frederick Warne published in October, 1903.
