Spring day 30, 515 AV
Late Afternoon
Shahar had come to visit, and his presence had so distracted her that she had done hardly any work at all. She turned back to her project now, tucking away other thoughts in favor of making more progress in the project. She still hadn't figured out how one would make a wide flower out of a piece of cloth. She looked back at the flower she had created previously, it was nearly there, but not pronounced enough, or really pretty enough. She pulled the thread tighter, and she did get stronger wrinkles, but the puckered cloth in the center was not at all attractive.
She decided that the petals would get no more pronounced, so she tied off the string, just past the first stitch of the design. She retied the knot of her thread in the needle, using the same thread to stitch the protruding center of the fabric so that it sat flat against the rest. A quick swing tack held the puckered bundle in place. She still wasn't sure about the flower, though, so she put it aside with the intent to try again.
Having seen now the way the flower crinkled, she thought perhaps if she used a strip of cloth, rather than a circle, she might get a better result. She used a medium yellow cloth, silken to add shine to the petals. She cut a strip of cloth measured about eight inches long, and one and a half inches wide.
She began again, choosing a thread of a similar yellow color, she threaded the needle again and tied the knot at the end of the trailing ends of the thread. She began sewing again, a running stitch along the length of the cloth, her needle weaving in and out of the cloth from one end to the other. She pulled the thread through, the knot at the end pulling the edge of the cloth in until she was rewarded with a near circle of cloth, laden with wrinkled and pleats that lent the appearance of petals. This was far better than her first attempt.
A neat tacking stitch tied the two overlapping edges of cloth into a circle, and a swing stitch closed the hole on the middle of the cloth. It was fairly pretty, if a bit small, and the sewing in the middle was not so attractive. She would have to come up with something to hide it. Or do a better job.
She placed it on top of the other failed flower, again, setting aside for future looking at. She would need other flowers too, and really only one of the flat ones.
The next flower would be a rose. A beautiful cream ribbon was her starting material, a memory of the roses they had made as children to braid into mother's hair. It had started from folding, one square over the next square, repeatedly until you had a folded chain. Then you held one end of the ribbon, and shoved the loose end up the chain , tightening it until you had a rose. Then you tied off the flower and had a big long ribbon end to braid or wrap into the hair.
It was starting the flower that Naiya couldn't remember. Someone had taught her, surely, but recalling it now was next to impossible. How long had it been since someone had let her do such intricate braid work on them? Perhaps if she could remember, Khida would allow her... well, that wan't so likely either, but for entirely different reasons.
She sat, pondering for a while, running the silky ribbon between her fingers, and watching the play of light across the shining surface. It was a twist, perhaps, something to form a base. It had to be in the middle, because you needed to have the ends fold over each other.
That seemed too simple, surely it would just slip out. It must have been a knot that formed the base. She tied the ribbon in a knot, folding it in half first, to find the middle. Then she formed a loop over her finger, both trailing ends hanging on either side.
Lifting the ribbon end that fell behind her finger, she flipped it across her hand, careful to keep the silky material from slipping, and with a second finger through the loop, in the opposite direction, pulled the crossed end through the loop she formed.
There, a knot. Close enough to the middle, it wasn't perfect, but it would surely serve its purpose. Her first new problem was that she lacked a flat surface to flip the ends over. Not to mention that the folds were supposed to cross each other. She had to create a false turn with her finger before leading the ribbon over the knot. She had to spare a finger to hold the ribbon in place, while her other hand folded the second tail over the first, making a square at the crossing.
Careful to keep the ribbon from slipping off to hang limply at the sides once more, she continued the pattern, folding end over end until she had no more ribbon to fold.
Next, she just let one of the ends loose, pushing up the length of cloth. It was a mistake. The entire weave fell loose, leaving her with nothing but half of a very twisted ribbon in her hand. It seemed she was supposed to keep both ends close in hand. She had to repeat the entire process, weaving the ribbon one end over the other until she had the hanging chain once more.
Late Afternoon
Shahar had come to visit, and his presence had so distracted her that she had done hardly any work at all. She turned back to her project now, tucking away other thoughts in favor of making more progress in the project. She still hadn't figured out how one would make a wide flower out of a piece of cloth. She looked back at the flower she had created previously, it was nearly there, but not pronounced enough, or really pretty enough. She pulled the thread tighter, and she did get stronger wrinkles, but the puckered cloth in the center was not at all attractive.
She decided that the petals would get no more pronounced, so she tied off the string, just past the first stitch of the design. She retied the knot of her thread in the needle, using the same thread to stitch the protruding center of the fabric so that it sat flat against the rest. A quick swing tack held the puckered bundle in place. She still wasn't sure about the flower, though, so she put it aside with the intent to try again.
Having seen now the way the flower crinkled, she thought perhaps if she used a strip of cloth, rather than a circle, she might get a better result. She used a medium yellow cloth, silken to add shine to the petals. She cut a strip of cloth measured about eight inches long, and one and a half inches wide.
She began again, choosing a thread of a similar yellow color, she threaded the needle again and tied the knot at the end of the trailing ends of the thread. She began sewing again, a running stitch along the length of the cloth, her needle weaving in and out of the cloth from one end to the other. She pulled the thread through, the knot at the end pulling the edge of the cloth in until she was rewarded with a near circle of cloth, laden with wrinkled and pleats that lent the appearance of petals. This was far better than her first attempt.
A neat tacking stitch tied the two overlapping edges of cloth into a circle, and a swing stitch closed the hole on the middle of the cloth. It was fairly pretty, if a bit small, and the sewing in the middle was not so attractive. She would have to come up with something to hide it. Or do a better job.
She placed it on top of the other failed flower, again, setting aside for future looking at. She would need other flowers too, and really only one of the flat ones.
The next flower would be a rose. A beautiful cream ribbon was her starting material, a memory of the roses they had made as children to braid into mother's hair. It had started from folding, one square over the next square, repeatedly until you had a folded chain. Then you held one end of the ribbon, and shoved the loose end up the chain , tightening it until you had a rose. Then you tied off the flower and had a big long ribbon end to braid or wrap into the hair.
It was starting the flower that Naiya couldn't remember. Someone had taught her, surely, but recalling it now was next to impossible. How long had it been since someone had let her do such intricate braid work on them? Perhaps if she could remember, Khida would allow her... well, that wan't so likely either, but for entirely different reasons.
She sat, pondering for a while, running the silky ribbon between her fingers, and watching the play of light across the shining surface. It was a twist, perhaps, something to form a base. It had to be in the middle, because you needed to have the ends fold over each other.
That seemed too simple, surely it would just slip out. It must have been a knot that formed the base. She tied the ribbon in a knot, folding it in half first, to find the middle. Then she formed a loop over her finger, both trailing ends hanging on either side.
Lifting the ribbon end that fell behind her finger, she flipped it across her hand, careful to keep the silky material from slipping, and with a second finger through the loop, in the opposite direction, pulled the crossed end through the loop she formed.
There, a knot. Close enough to the middle, it wasn't perfect, but it would surely serve its purpose. Her first new problem was that she lacked a flat surface to flip the ends over. Not to mention that the folds were supposed to cross each other. She had to create a false turn with her finger before leading the ribbon over the knot. She had to spare a finger to hold the ribbon in place, while her other hand folded the second tail over the first, making a square at the crossing.
Careful to keep the ribbon from slipping off to hang limply at the sides once more, she continued the pattern, folding end over end until she had no more ribbon to fold.
Next, she just let one of the ends loose, pushing up the length of cloth. It was a mistake. The entire weave fell loose, leaving her with nothing but half of a very twisted ribbon in her hand. It seemed she was supposed to keep both ends close in hand. She had to repeat the entire process, weaving the ribbon one end over the other until she had the hanging chain once more.
