Fine sewing

Rin was cleaning up her shop’s counter when she heard the door’s bell  ring, signaling someone had entered. She spun around and with her best  smile, said loudly “Welcome! Can I do anyhing for you?”

In the  shop’s entrance was a tall young man, looking around the shop  in a  calculating manner, sweeping over the dresses and fabrics on  display.  His face seemed vaguely familiar to her. She looked at his  outfit, blue  and purple danced elegantly over his frame, and she  remarked the  fabric and design was of good quality. Everything clicked  when she saw  the hydrangea shaped pin holding together his cape.

Lord  Hydrangea! Her eyes widened and she did her best to remain  collected,   though her smile twitched and became visibly more forced.  What is a  lord of his status doing in her shop?! Her work as a  seamstress was of  excellent quality, but she rarely made outfits for the  nobility, she  wasn’t exactly well known. There were quite a few tailors across the  city, making for high competition. Especially considering  the town’s  closed attitude towards foreigners...

He flinched a bit when his  eyes laid on her, though he did not react  further and continued as if  nothing was out of the ordinary. “You’re the  seamstress, Catherine, are  you not?”

She chuckled sheepishly, “My skin tone gives it away, doesn’t it? Yes, I am the seamstress of this shop, do you need anything?”

The lord turned on his heels, searching for something.

“Ah, there you are.” He stepped aside to reveal a young girl staring around the shop, gaping, and paying them no mind.

The  first thing Rin noticed was her hair. Her brown, thick and wavy  hair  fell to her knees, almost swallowing her body. The next thing she  saw,  was pale skin, paler than hers, contrasting with the rest of her.  But,  something wasn’t normal. Her skin wasn’t pale, it was as brown as  the  Lord’s and the rest of the city’s inhabitants, and yet, patches of   white covered her face. She couldn’t help but stare at her, just as the   girl stared in awe at the pretty dresses on display.

“Iolene.”  The lord said in the girl’s direction. She seemed to snap  out of her  appreciative trance and she looked at him, who nodded towards  Catherine  to guide her eyes towards the seamstress. Their eyes met and  her eyes  were of an incredible blue. Like the lord, she flinched when  she saw  her, her eyes opening wider.

“Ah, h-hello.“ The girl, Iolene, said  with a weak smile, immediately  curling on herself. She stepped closer  to Howard, averted her eyes from  Rin’s and returned to admiring the  room, visibly more self-conscious.

The lord stepped closer to  Catherine. “There’s a grand ball tonight  and she needs an outfit. I  have some errands to run, I’ll return in  around two hours and I expect  her to be ready. It needs to be fancy  enough to blend in, but subtle  enough not to attract attention. It  should cover her skin as much as  possible, especially her neck.” He  glared at Catherine at that. “Mind  your business and don’t. Look.”

Catherine felt a weight in her  chest at that, the familiar sting of  being distrusted and disliked. He  relaxed and continued, “I’ll be going.  Do whatever Iolene asks. We have  the money, so just do your best and  we’ll settle everything when I  come back.”

Iolene looked at him when he said that, an  apprehensive grimace on  her face. He looked down at her and said  something softly to her, she  couldn’t discern the words. He was already  going out the door when the  bell’s tingle quickly brought Rin back to  her senses and quickly said  “Of course! She’ll be done by then, thank  you for your business!”

The shop fell silent and Iolene didn’t  move, save for her hands  fidgeting on the hem of her dress and her eyes  still looking around. The  blue dress was pretty yet simple, visibly of  good quality, like the  lord’s.

After a some seconds passed in  silence, Catherine clapped her hands  together, smiling. “Iolene, is it  not? Beautiful name for a beautiful  lady.”

“Thank you.” She said, a certain pride in her eyes.

“Well  then, Iolene, would you come over here so we can start on your   outfit?” She gestured to a spot surrounded my mannequins and a table   filled with cut fabric and tools, a mirror standing tall on the wall.

“Ah,  of course. Sorry.” She hurried and stood in the spot Rin had  gestured  towards. She looked around, overwhelmed by everything there was  around.  Everything was colorful, beautiful dresses and outfits on  mannequins  everywhere in the shop, all these tools and pieces she knew  nothing  about on the table.

“No need to apologize.” She said with a warm  voice and a smile. She  turned to her and approached her. “So, did you  see any dress you liked  when admiring earlier?”

Iolene stopped admiring her surroundings and looked at Rin, a genuine smile on her face. “Oh yes! They’re all very lovely!”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve worn much prettier dresses in the past.”

Her  smile fell, eyes looking down and hand tightening on the hem of  her  dress. “No I... wouldn’t say I have. These ones feel very warm and   genuine.”

Catherine... Seemed to have touched a sensitive memory.  She frowned  softly, and then gently smiled all the more. “I couldn’t  receive higher  praise, my lady. Thank you.”

She grimaced. “Please, call me Iolene.”

“Of course, then call me Rin.”

They smiled at each other for a moment.

“Well,  Iolene, we have work to do. You have to be ready in two hours,  so  we’ll have to work fast. It puld be impossible for me to make a new   dress in that time, so we’ll have to choose one already finished. Do  you  have a color in mind?”

“Blue, please.”

“House  Hydrangea’s colors, of course.” And with that Catherine was  off, taking  blue dresses from the back of the shop, from the front, any  and all  blue dresses that is close to her size. Her arms were  overflowing with  dresses when she came back. She put them all on hangers  side by side  neatly. Deep blue, soft blue, leaning on purple, on green,  long, short,  simple or complex, every kind she could imagine was there  in front of  Iolene. She couldn’t help but reach to touch the fabric of  them.

Rin  smiled when she saw her customer enjoying her work like that.  “Well,  the lord said nothing too simple or too eye catching, so we can  already  sort those out.” She doesn’t have the chance to go at  extravagant  parties or frequent nobility much, but she does know the  trends and  current fashion hits.

She flicked through the dresses, deciding  which ones wouldn’t do. No,  too simple, no details on this one, eh this  one’s fabric isn’t high  quality enough, oh no this pattern is already  out of fashion... oh no  this one’s crinoline is much too big, oh we can  do without those shiny  gems, those sleeves are too long, gosh maybe  that amount of glitter on a  dress wasn’t a good idea. She also made  sure the dresses had all high  collars. Out of all the dresses, the 3/4  of them were gone, about seven  were left.

“So, these are all the blue dresses that would be appropriate for such a ball, without undermining your rank or beauty.”

Iolene looked amazed at what she’d just done. “Wow! You could pick them out so quickly?!”

Pride  swelled in her chest. “Of course, after all, this is my job,  and I  give my best to every customer.” She gestured to the dresses left.   “Now, do any of these catch your eye?”

Iolene stepped closer to  the dresses and flicked through them, making  small exclamations in awe  there and there, and passing a full minute  considering each of them.  After a while of pondering, she took one off  its hanger and said in an  hopeful tone, “Could... Could I pick this  one?”

The dress had  slender sleeves, ones that stuck to the arms in an  elegant and  dignified manner. The chest was firm and had a flattering  shape, the  collar was high and hug the neck. Lace was covering a good  part of the  dress, its pattern resembling roses. The dress was supported  by a  medium sized crinoline, the skirt fluttering down on the floor. A  layer  of fabric was being held up in a decorative manner, falling down  and  coming back up neatly again and again all around the dress. A layer  of  lace was in front of the fabric’s base layer.

“Excellent mix of elegant and charming, good choice my la-, Iolene! Will you be able to undress and put it on yourself?”

“I...  Think so. Thank you.” This was Rin’s cue to give her a bit of  privacy,  so she decided to take the dresses and put them back in the  meantime.  When she got back, she took a glance at Iolene, still  changing. Vivid  red on her neck caught her eye and she averted her eyes  immediately,  remembering the lord’s words.

She was cleaning up the table and  gathered needles, threads and pins  to an accessible spot when Iolene’s  small voice spoke, “I’m dressed.”

Rin spun and looked at her. Yes,  this dress was perfect for her! “The  dress is beautiful on you. We’ll  start on the customization then.”

Iolene had a confused  expression, and made a little “Huh?” Then when  she saw Catherine  approaching with pins in her hand, she seemed to  remember something and  went “Ah, oh, yes.”

“We’ll just start by doing small necessary  adjustments. We’ll go from  up to down.” And so Catherine started,  checking if her collar was  perfectly fitting.

As expected since  the dress wasn’t made with her measurements, she  had to change a lot.  She put pins where she had to adjust the size, took  the sewn thread off  the section then sew it back with the correct  measurement,  occasionally trimming. She had to cut a bit of the skirt so  it wouldn’t  touch the floor, and sew it in a way that the edge wouldn’t  be rough  and wouldn’t deteriorate.

They occasionally talked, but Rin wasn’t  minding the silence as it  helps her focus on the task at hand. Iolene  seemed content to just watch  Catherine work on the dress in silence. A  bit more than an hour later  and the modifications were done.

Catherine  stood and stretched, being hunched over and on her knees  for so long  was hard on the body. She looked at Iolene and admired her  work,  satisfied. “So, how does it feel?”

“It feels... Perfect!” Iolene  had a bright smile as she spun,  curtsied and took big breaths to test  her range of movement. She looked  at herself in the mirror, and her  smile only grew.

“We have a bit less than an hour left, so might  as well do some more  customization. There’s no time to embroider  complex things but... maybe  simple patterns. Or we could add ribbons or  something else there and  there.“ Catherine was staring at the dress  thoughtfully, Iolene wasn’t  sure how to reply, but as soon as she  opened her mouth, Rin had  exclaimed. “Oh I know! The lace’s pattern is  roses, right? I could make  some flowers out of fabric, it would look  good on your skirt. How about  hydrangeas, since you’re part of the  Hydrangea house?”

Iolene’s eyes widened. “Oh I’m... I’m not part of the Hydrangea house. I’m more of a... Guest.”

“Ah I see, my apologies. I had assumed you were lord Hydrangea’s sister.”

Iolene chuckled. “No I am not, but I take no offense in the comparison.”

“So... No hydrangeas...?”

She  looked pensive and brought her fingers to her lips in thought.   ”Well... I do love flowers, and hydrangeas are beautiful. I’d love if   you would add some to my dress, if it’s not too much problem...”

“It  shall be done. Your dress will only look more beautiful. It’ll  take me  some time to make them, you can sit on the chair over there.”  She  pointed to a stool next to the mirror. Iolene executed the  suggestion,  and she sat down, a bit awkwardly because of the dress’s  crinoline.

“I’ll  put them on the first layer of your skirt, where it comes up,  so I’ll  make six. It shouldn’t be too long. It’s not really hard, just  time  consuming. I wouldn’t mind chatting while doing it.” She gathered  some  blue fabric and put it close to her on the table before sitting. To   make the hydrangeas, she’ll cut many small pieces of blue fabric and   sew them together to make a ball resembling the flowers. She just had  to  actually make them quickly. She picked up her scissor and started.

“Ah, could I ask you questions then?” She lighted up, seemingly having a lot to ask.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“How do you make such pretty dresses?”

Rin  laughed. “Well, it’s a mix of designing and making it well I’d  say.  The dress’ design should be pretty in itself, but sewing it well  and  deciding how to make it is important too. It would be hard to get  this  kind of result with you weren’t experienced.”

Iolene’s mood seemed  to fall a but at that, eyes lowering and sitting  less straight. “Ah...  I don’t think I’d be able to do such a thing  then. I’m not good at  anything, really...”

“Don’t say that, I’m sure you only don’t see  all the good you do.  You’re the nicest customer I’ve had in a while.  Though most of my  customers are generally friendly...”

She smiled. “Thank you, I’m glad I could make you at ease.”

“Do you often get rude customers?”

“Well,  I get some unfriendly ones, though I wouldn’t qualify them as  rude.  This may be too honest of me but... I would qualify Lord Hydrangea  of  rude.”

She chuckled, “I see what you mean. I apologize on his  behalf. He’s  rather intimidating at first, but he’s a good man.” She  gazed over with a  fond smile.

Rin smiled, the description made her think of a certain man in her life. “I take it you two are close? You like him, don’t you?”

“Oh yes! Howard is the kindest person I’ve ever met! Though it hasn’t been long since we met, I do think we’re friends.”

“Oh, I meant... Since you’re not family and you’re going with him to the ball, I assumed you were more than friends.”

 She  jumped a bit hearing that, a small blush going to her cheeks and  a  hand going to play with her hair, hiding her face a bit. “Oh... We’re   not going alone though, the lord and lady are going too. In fact I   wasn’t supposed to go, I just have to go because-” She cut herself   abruptly, averting her eyes. “... I can’t tell. I’m sorry.”

“Oh  no, don’t worry. I enjoy talking with you, and if you have a lot  to say  on your chest I’d love to be someone you can confide in, but I  won’t  force you to talk if you don’t want to. ”

She nodded, but made no further attempt at conversation.

A  bit later, she held the finished ‘hydrangea’ in her hand, admiring  the  small pieces of blue fabric sewn together. She held it up to show it   to the girl and said, “I finished the first flower.”

The rest  went quickly, words being traded there and there. Soon  enough, they  were both standing again and Catherine was fixing the  flowers on the  skirt with some thread quickly.

She looked at Iolene in the dress, and smiled in satisfaction.

Iolene  simply looked at the dress with the mirror, overflowing with   happiness. She held back a squeal and forced herself not to scream when   talking, “I love it so much!” She even spun around, just to enjoy the   feeling of the skirt fluttering in the air.

Something still felt a bit lacking somewhat. She put a finger to her lips, thinking. Ah, of course!

Iolene  was still looking at herself in the mirror, hands on her  cheeks and  smiling. Catherine came behind her and passed a dark blue  ribbon over  her to finally tie it at her waist. “There, the waist looks  much less  bare now, right?” She smiled as she saw the girl’s smile grow  even  wider.

“There! Your dress is officially done!”

“Thank you so much, I love it!”

Catherine  stepped away to get a better view of her in her dress. Her  long and  puffy hair didn’t exactly scream ‘fancy ball’. “Hey, Iolene.  What would  you say if  I were offering to make your hair?”

She stopped and  her eyes widened, “Oh, I couldn’t possibly take you  up on that offer...  It’s not your job, I wouldn’t impose. Especially  after all the hard  work you just did...”

It’s true having to work so much in so  little time is stressful, but  there was some time left, and she took a  liking to this girl. Rin  wouldn’t let her go without looking the best  she could be. “Nonsense,  there’s around 10 minutes left, let me do this  for you.” She said with a  warm smile.

Iolene looked uncomfortable at the idea of accepting, but reluctantly replied with a soft “Okay...”

Catherine moved the stool she had been sitting on before to put it in front of the mirror, and gestured for the girl to sit.

“Ah, wait a second.” Catherine walked to a room in the back of the store, and came back with a hairbrush.

Iolene  faced the mirror, and Rin had complete access to her hair. She  already  had big strands of hair held up at the back by a Hydrangea  shaped pin.  She simply started brushing it. It was thick, and the brush  had a bit  of a hard time passing through.

Iolene had fallen completely  silent. The only sound in the room being  the brushing of her hair. She  was gazing down, and her expression was  grim.

Catherine noticed this, and grew concerned. “Is something wrong, Iolene?”

She raised her head and looked at herself in the mirror. “Don’t you think this is too much?”

“What do you mean-”

She  turned abruptly to face her. “Look at me.” Her eyes were tearing  up,  the blue of them contrasting with the patches of brown and white on  her  skin. Her voice rose. “I’m a freak. No pretty dresses or fancy   accessories can change that.”

Her voice was full of pain and bitterness, and Rin found herself at a loss for words.

Iolene  seemed to realize she had irrationally lashed out, her eyes  widening  before tearing her face away from her. She put her face in her  hands,  hiding tears fallung down, and quietly muttered. “I shouldn’t be  going  to that party, everybody will hate me. You must hate me too.”

That  snapped Catherine back to reality. “Oh Iolene... No, I don’t  hate you.  You’re not a freak.” She wasn’t sure how to approach this, but  she’d  do her best to comfort her.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Rin  cut her, “Listen... I know  what it’s like to feel out of place, like  you’re alone. What it’s like  to get stared at, to feel ugly and  different.” Iolene raised her head  out of her hands, looking at Rin,  sad and unsure.

“People are wary of the unfamiliar, it’s that way.  But people will  get used to it.” She put her hand on the girl’s  shoulder. “The pretty  dresses and fancy accessories aren’t about them,  it’s not about their  stares. Tell me, you love this dress, don’t you?”

She hesitated on her answer, but eventually spoke in a small broken voice. “... Yes?”

“And you want to get a nice hairdressing, don’t you?”

“... Yes.”

“See?  We aren’t doing this for them, but for you. You deserve to get  dolled  up if it makes you feel happy.” She smiled gently at Iolene,  frowning  softly.

She smiled a bit, meeting her eyes. “... Thank you.”

“Happy to help.” She straightened her back and softly clapped her hands together. “Now, do you have any request for your hair?”

Her smile grew wider at that, a genuine one, and she sheepishly said, “Well... Do you have ribbons?”

————————————

Catherine  was finishing her hair when they heard the door’s bell  ring. She  craned her neck to see it was indeed the young Hydrangea lord.   Mannequins and stalls were between them, so he wouldn’t see them.

She heard the clicks of his heels on the floor. They stopped and they heard his voice, “Hello?”

The girls giggled. Catherine replied enthusiastically, “We’re here! Just give us a minute please!”

They heard him mumble something about not having time angrily, and Rin quickly tied the last ribbon neatly.

She quickly walked to the right where Howard would see her, and with a big smile gestured and said “Iolene, come out!”

She skipped over happily and excitedly waved to Howard.

He  had been crossing his arm in irritation and boredom, but when he  saw  her, his mouth gaped and his eyes widened. Her hair was In one big lang  finnish plait braid, ribbons tied there and there into it.

Iolene skipped to Howard and bit her lip in anticipation, her smile touching her eyes. “How do I look?”

His eyes were fixed on her. “... You- I mean, the dress is very well made.” He looked away, a subtle pink tint on his cheeks.

His  eyes then looked back at her face, and he noticed her hair. He  burst  into laughter, rising a hand to muffle it. Iolene grew confused,  and  watched him with wide eyes.

“Haha... Oh... You’ve gone strong on the ribbons. Pfft, haha!”

She frowned, mouth into a pout. “You... You don’t like it?”

“Oh no, it’s very cute. And elegant. It’s just... So you.  I  wasn’t expecting this.” He had stopped laughing, but his smile was  still  as big as one could be, eyes filled with fondness and water from   laughing.

“Hmph.” Iolene seemed dissatisfied with his reaction  and was pouting irritably. She eventually started smiling, giving in his  joyful mood.

“It’s not as subtle as I’d hoped it be.” He was still smiling, but he brought a hand to his chin in a calculating manner.

“Do... Do you want me to take the ribbons off?” She said, grasping the hem of her dress, worried.

He chuckled. “You know what, nah, it’ll be fine.” He seemed to remember they weren’t alone, and faced Catherine.

“Here.” He took the small bag that was tied at his waist and handed it over to the seamstress.

She  looked inside, and saw more gold than one would give her for  three of  her best dresses. She gasped. “This... This is way too much...”

He  looked “Oh, is it?” His face settled into a smile. He closed his  eyes  and waved it off. “Consider it a bonus of our satisfaction.”

She was still holding the bag, shoulders tensed and eyes wide. “Gosh... Thank you... Thank you so much, my lord.”

“Don’t mention it.” He looked Iolene, who was smiling at Catherine and returned his gaze when she remarked his eyes on her.

“Well, with that, we’ll be going. Thank you for your excellent work.” He started walking towards the door.

Iolene  energetically waved to Catherine and joyfully said, “Thank you  lots  Rin! For everything!” She quickly catches up to Howard and grasped  his  sleeve casually, and they exited the shop together.

She heard Iolene say something about coming back to get more dresses, and Catherine smiled watching them walk away through the windows. She thinks she has made a new friend.