The First Steps to Becoming a Tailor (Solo)

by **Amarhyl** on August 9th, 2011, 12:19 pm

Timestamp: - 14th Summer, 511AV
Location: - Syliras (Great Bazaar & Elegant Weave)
Purpose: Summer Job Thread - Sewing her first garment
Status: Closed

Spring was well and truly upon them now, and it was on the morning of the sixth, that Amarhyl truly felt it. She stepped out of the long, dull stone hallways, walking until she was outside, not too far from Syliras' front gates. She glanced up; it was still early, the sun was just starting to shine watery golden rays through the clouds that littered the sky. She hitched her bag further onto her shoulder and pulled her cloak a little tighter. Even though it was warming up slightly, there was still an underlying chill to the air. Winter seemed to want to hang around as much as it could.

Without any warning, the girl suddenly turned and proceeded to head towards the Dyres District of the City. She had made a split-second decision to head for the Bazaar, for today would be the day that she attempted to sew her first item of clothing. She didn't know where the impulse had come from, but she knew that it was something she needed to do. Having earned herself a job at An Elegant Weave, one her future tasks would, hopefully, be to create garments for the shop to sell. At the moment she was only designing patterns and various items of clothing, alongside a little embroidering and some general shop work. She had yet to prove her skills to Navia, though in the past few days, the shop owner had let her have more free-reign over what and how she embroidered.

As she walked, she ran through a list of items that she would need to purchase. Of course, the first would have to be a sewing kit. That was an essential part of any tailors arsenal. Amarhyl currently possessed an embroidery kit, but really, the two are very different. For sewing, the needle must be thinner, the thread more delicate. She would also need to find some fabric. Cheap material would do for this project, after all, there was no way her first try would be anything near saleable. It could probably be worn by Amarhyl herself if it did't turn out too disastrous. A plain cotton or wool would most likely be sufficient for what she had in mind. And then of course, there was the thread. From what she understood, she would receive some in her sewing kit, but unless it matched the colour of her chosen fabric, she would have to buy some more.

She frowned to herself, hoping that the materials she needed would not put her too much out of pocket. With a light sigh, she ducked into the Great Bazaar to begin her search.

by **Amarhyl** on August 9th, 2011, 12:19 pm

Upon her entry, she was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people. She had only ever been to the Bazaar once before; it seemed she had forgotten what it was like. That, or she did not expect it to be quite the same so early in the morning. She moved from the door a few steps, waiting for her ears to adjust to the sudden roar of noise she had experienced when she had come in. After a few moments, and a few deep breaths, she headed further into the Bazaar, glancing round her as she went. She couldn't see anywhere selling tailoring goods near the entrance, so she figured that she would have to head deeper into the rows of stalls.

After being distracted by a table holding the most beautiful glass products, where the Inarta salesgirl had tried to sell her a vase, and then again by a man selling some tiny birds, she came across a stall that sold fabric. The young girl stood for a moment, gazing with what appeared to be awe, at the vast amount of different material lining the make-shift racks. There were more colours than she could name, ranging from the brightest pinks all the way to the more mundane greys. Then there were the numerous varieties of fabric; some plain, some embroidered, and a couple that shimmered strangely in the light. She could see silks and cottons, wools and then that odd shimmering one. She fingered it's folds curiously. It seemed like a cross between cotton and silk, but she wasn't sure. In any case, it was most likely far out of her price range, so she quickly moved over to the basic yards of plain cotton. She pointed out the ream of white to the stall owner, and a few bells later, Amarhyl folded three yards of it neatly into her bag.

The thread and needles were next, so she began

another search for an appropriate stall. It was not long before she found it, and she approached the table to be greeted by the sight of what seemed to be hundreds of spools of thread, in just as many colours and thickness'. She noticed a small selection of leather kits at the end of the table, and went to investigate. There were both embroidery and sewing kits here, but they were indistinguishable from the outside, so she asked the stall-owner, specifying that if possible, she would like her kit to contain white thread. He obliged with a smile, and handed her the leather pack. She then moved to pick up a second spool, just in case, and she also selected some light-blue embroidery thread that caught her eye. Finishing her purchase with a pack of pins, she handed over her mizas with a smile, and stowed the goods away in her bag.

Receipt :

by **Amarhyl** on September 1st, 2011, 11:45 am

With her new purchases safely in her bag, Amarhyl wove through the crowds and made her way out of the Bazaar. Stepping into the daylight again, she had to blink a few times. The sudden change in light was blinding, and it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. When she could see again, Amarhyl turned and set off for An Elegant Weave. Technically it was her day off, but she was heading there anyway. The pattern she needed was in the back room, and Navia had said she could come in and make use of the facilities when she needed to.

She entered the shop, giving a greeting to the woman behind the counter, and the proceeded through to the sewing room. It was quiet there today; Navia wasn’t in and there were only two others present.

Amarhyl emptied her items onto a table and then went to hunt for her design. It was incredibly simple, a rectangle and two sleeves that would eventually make a basic T-Tunic.

Amarhyl already had the correct measurements written out in her journal, so armed with a measure and a pencil she began to draw onto the cotton. She drew two rectangles to make up the body, and then two thinner ones for the sleeves. She ignored the neckline for now; the one on the design was different to what she wanted.

The next thing to do was to cut the pieces from the length of cotton. She located the correct pair of scissors and then carefully cut along the lines she had drawn. A steady hand proved to be extremely useful here, and she was very please that not a single cut she had made was crooked.

Amarhyl laid out the fabric in a rough tunic pattern before gathering up a handful of pins. She pinned together the two larger rectangles at the sides, deciding to make the tunic shorter than in the design and ignore the bottom slits altogether. The sleeves would each be made out of a single piece of fabric, so she looped the lengths of cotton so that the two longest sides touched before pinning it.

All that was left to do was sew the garment together. Amarhyl was no tailor; this would be the first time she had ever stitched something like this. Sure, she had sewn buttons onto things before, but this was completely different. She collected her spools of thread and her needles in preparation.

by **Amarhyl** on September 1st, 2011, 12:19 pm

With the thread on her needle, Amarhyl began to stitch up the side of the tunic body. She chose to use a blanket stitch to make the seams neater. Navia had told her that it was all well and good using a normal running stitch, but eventually the seams would start to fray and it would be uncomfortable. Amarhyl had only learned blanket stitch a few days ago, so the process was still quite fresh in her mind. All the same, she flipped her journal to the page where Navia had drawn a little diagram for reference.

The line she was stitching was far from prefect. The stitches were different lengths for a start. But she made sure that they were pulled tight and so they would do their job well. The tunic would just look a little messy on the inside.

One side done, she moved on to the next. Again, her blanket stitch was untidy, but it would hold. Amarhyl made a mental note to practise plain running stitches to help her sew in straight lines. If she couldn’t do that then Navia would never let her help make garments for sale.

With both sides of the tunic stitched, she moved on to the sleeves. Again, blanket stitch was her choice, and she sewed along the edges to create a single seam on each. Happy that she had done a satisfactory job, she then moved onto the most difficult part of her tunic’s creation. Attaching the sleeves. Below Navia’s diagram there were shorthand notes on this part, and Amarhyl approached it with apprehension.

She turned the sleeves the right side out, so that her newly sewn seams were on the insides. She then pushed one of them into the inside-out tunic, lining the shoulders up. Next Amarhyl pinned all the way round to make sure she would sew it on in the right place, and then she threaded a new needle. With trepidation, she began to sew the sleeve to the bodice. She did it slowly, checking constantly that it hadn’t shifted despite the pins, but eventually her tunic had one sleeve. She added the second sleeve in the same way, and worked just as slowly.

The collar was the final thing to fix. She measured the halfway mark and then cut out a collar with an added slit. Then, using blanket stitch again, she closed up the top of the garment were necessary. Anxiously, Amarhyl then pulled the tunic the right way out, praying that her sleeves looked right.

To her surprise, they did. In fact, the tunic appeared better made than she thought it would. She supposed it was because her messy needlework was on the inside. Amarhyl smiled. She had created her first piece of clothing, and it was actually wearable!

by **Templar** on September 28th, 2011, 2:17 pm

Amarhyl: Observation: 2 - Sewing: 4
Lore: Blueprint: T-Tunic – Wearable creation! - Blanket Stitch
Ledger: - 18gm, 3sm, 7cm
A simple white t-tunic.

Additional notes: A fine training thread! And somehow, you made sewing interesting! Now excuse me, I must out and do something manly to balance things out.