Since I was short, if the skirt of my gown flared out too much, it would make me look young. I needed to be careful of the layers in the petticoat I was going to wear under my gown. I didn’t want to look like I’d stepped out of the Victorian era.
I pinned the places on my gown that were too wide, and Ms. Cameron helped. It definitely wasn’t something I could do on my own.
“You may want to leave a large seam allowance,” Ms. Cameron suggested. “Since you’re still growing, it’s possible that you may outgrow the gown. Oh, but if you adjusted it later on, the pattern may no longer line up.”
If that happens, I can just fix it with household magic. That’s right, I’m clearly defining when I will intentionally use my magic!
I shouldn’t have been thinking about such things when I had Princess Margaret to worry about.
“You mustn’t cut there, Lady Margaret!” I cautioned.
The moment I took my eyes off her, the princess found something reckless to do. She was about to cut along the line that defined the finished hem. If she didn’t leave room for a seam allowance, the skirt would end up too short.
Wait, the skirt already seems too short.
“Did you compare the length of the paper pattern to your own body?” I asked the princess. The look on her face suggested she hadn’t.
Did she even pick the right size for the paper pattern?
“I’m glad I stopped you just in time,” I remarked. “At this rate, your gown would’ve ended up being a knee-length dress.”
Princess Margaret was both taller and older than me, so her gown needed to have a longer skirt to be appropriate.
“My, I’m glad you caught that,” the princess said. “I’d want the gown to cover my calves at the very least.”
Sewing was an exhausting class. Princess Margaret eventually finished cutting out the pieces of her gown, so I gave her instructions on what to do during the section of sewing she was taking alone.
“You will use this basting thread to sew these pieces together,” I explained. “You must first start with the darts, then you will seam the edges of the skirt together. After that, you’ll seam the front and back pieces together. Finally, you’ll sew the skirt onto the bodice.”
There’s no use in explaining this. She isn’t getting it.
There were too many students doing an awful job, so Ms. Cameron wasn’t able to give the princess any extra attention. She was running around the class scolding students who were making mistakes and showing them how to attach extra fabric.
“Lady Margaret, you will be using the basting thread to sew the areas labeled one and two together,” I said, writing numbers onto the back side of her fabric with some tailor’s chalk. “Then, you’ll sew line three to line four. You’ll do the same thing on the other side of the skirt with lines five and six.”
“All I have to do is follow the numbers!” Princess Margaret said with excitement.
She finally gets it! This should help avoid any disasters.
“Once you are done with that, I will explain the rest,” I said.
It seemed like it would be for the best if I didn’t pass sewing, but I had a feeling that I would get a certificate of completion once my polka-dot dress was done.
What am I going to do then?
I continued my efforts to avoid household magic in weaving. I had a good time weaving with the other beginners, all of our looms making satisfying clanking sounds.
Working with my hands is so nice!
I was using different colors in the warp threads as well to weave a checkered fabric. My grainlines were becoming quite even.
“See you later, Patience!” my classmates said.
“Bye, Lily! Bye, Sophia! Bye, Hannah!” I replied.
With that casual farewell, we split up.
This is nice. Since I was a commoner in my previous life, laid-back interactions like this are much more comfortable for me. I prefer saying “bye” over “good day.”
The music club was a world of “good day” and “how do you do.” Today, I would be working with Samuel and the others to finish up the songs we were giving to the glee club. I wasn’t great at the lute yet, so I was going to leave that to Samuel and his friends to handle.
I arrived at the music club with Princess Margaret, and for some strange reason, there was tension in the room.
“Like I said, I won’t be signing any such petition,” President Albert grumbled. “Go on, leave already!”
Albert was kicking out members of the knight club who were trying to gather signatures.
“But at this rate, the storied knight club will be dissolved...” one member of the knight club pointed out.
Despite the students’ efforts, neither President Albert nor the other boys in music club seemed willing to sign. Also, perhaps it was mean to say this, but brutish boys like these weren’t very popular with the girls either. They should’ve sent a handsome boy like Percival, or someone cute like Prince Keith.
President Albert kicked those boys out of here. I wonder if they’re also visiting other clubs to get signatures. They need to be more careful. Otherwise, they’re just going to make people hate the knight club even more.
“Let’s move on,” President Albert declared. “Samuel, Daniel, Valdische, and Klaus will be handling the arrangements of the pieces. Patience, I’d like you to describe the idea behind each song to me. I’d like to base the lyrics off of a song’s concept.”
It appeared that they weren’t going to leave my songs as hanon pieces but instead add accompaniments for lutes, flutes, and percussion. It was going to be quite the production.
“I believe you will understand the concept behind each song after listening to it,” I replied. “More importantly, have you settled on a plot for the production?”
President Albert pulled out several sheets of paper.