Working For The Weekend [Solo]
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:08 pm
25 Ash 121
The Commons, Kalzasi
The day drifted slowly onward inside the Steady Hand, but for once Charlie was not taking to his job with half as much energy as he could have mustered. Instead Charlie rushed to finish as many alterations as possible so that he could return to the job that had truly gripped him.
There were many orders waiting in his queue, and each new customer added yet more on. Thankfully Charlie was in the back of the shop for the entire day, and as such did not lose focus while talking to every client that strode in.
Some of them asked after Charlie, and their well wishes were relayed to him by his boss whenever she brought him in a new armful of clothes to hem. Those well wishes and loyal customers were part of why it was so easy to keep Charlie around the shop. His boss might have found someone that worked more quickly than Charlie, or caused fewer guards to pay the shop a visit midday, but none could have drawn the sort of repeat customers that Charlie could.
“Mrs. Bouselle says hello, and also that her daughter is willing to give you another chance.” The seamstress said as she placed an armful of shirts down next to Charlie's table. She was a a dark haired woman in her middle years, and was one of few people that dressed more sharply than Charlie. Being a woman of some modest means, Dorothea had opened the Steady Hand and as of yet had only taken a single apprentice in Charlie
“Really, Iris wants me back?” Charlie asked. lifting his head and examining the stack of clothes. The clothes he wore were well fitted, but more plain than his usual fair. His simple wool shirt and trousers looked positively inadequate when compared to the violet and black ensemble that Dorothea wore while still managing to fit and mark clothing for customers.
“No, not Iris. She was clear about that. Gisa, I think she said?” Dorothea was quick to correct him, though she did not do so unkindly. “She seemed excited by the idea. She has always been fond of you.”
“Of course, Gisa!” Charlie said, slapping his forehead. “Lovely girl. Well, you just let Mrs. Bouselle know that I'll begin smoothing things over with her daughter just as soon as I'm able.” Charlie was excited by the prospect, as he always was in matters of love. He loved easily, and it was similarly simple to beckon him back for second or third trysts.
Dorothea gave the young man an incredulous look, but nodded and let him return to his work. Only had Dorothea managed to turn around before she found herself smiling again. The effortless way he approached life was infectious, and often did more work to push on her emotions than his actual magics did.
Once she was back out in the front of the shop, Charlie looked at the stack of clothes. Most of the clothes were used or hand-me-downs, but still in good condition besides. Most were merely marked with tailor's chalk or pins where the alterations needed to be made, but a few of the shirts or pants had a small slip of card stock pinned to them as well. These garments were ones that required special work to be done to suit the species of the customer.
More and more clothing was becoming mass produced and purchased off the rack rather than being fitted for each individual person. While that had done wonders for the fashion sense of the common folk, it also created a unique problem for races like the Lysanrin, Avialae or Rathari. Clothing was made to suit the largest population, and often that meant humans. While clothiers searched for a way to fill this need and their own pockets in the process, folk like Charlie picked up the slack.
For Lysanrin, it often involved letting out the fabric in the neck to allow particularly impressive horns passage without snagging. For Avialae, it was creating openings for the wings to slip through more comfortably. And for Rathari, the possibilities were truly limitless, though most often it involved creating an opening for tails or wings.
Charlie set himself to work quickly, starting at the top of the stack and moving towards the bottom. He cut away excess fabric with ease, and stitched together seams just as quickly. Most alterations were relatively quick to make, with most of the time spent actually cutting through the thick fabric people had brought in their preparation for Frost and ensuring the ends didn't fray or split afterward.
It was not particularly backbreaking work, but it did take Charlie's full attention for the time being. After each cut, Charlie measured to ensure both sides matched, making minor corrections as needed before finishing the hems with a surprisingly competent back-stitch. He was hurrying to finish, but not so much that his work was sloppy. Dorothea would never have allowed her name to be put on even a single shoddy stitch, and was still in the practice of checking his work before she would present it back to the client. Just the threat of her disapproval was enough for Charlie to stay mindful of the work he did.
Still, these minor alterations were not where his mind was, not now anyway. Charlie wanted to get back to his current passion project that currently hung over a mannequin torso in the rear of the room. Right now it did not look like much, more a collection of half-cut lengths of expensive navy wool, but soon it would be Charlie's greatest creation. He just needed more time to work on it.
Dorothea had been supportive of his goal to make a coat inspired by Zaichaeri military attire, and had even helped him put the design to paper. So supportive of his efforts that she had even given him permission to work on it during working hours, permitted he was not letting his current obsession intersect too harshly with his duties as her apprentice. She was under the assumption that Charlie was getting paid for this work, else she may not have been so lenient.
After blitzing through what remained of his work, Charlie was out of his stool. He spared not a moment before he returned to that mannequin and retrieved both his fabric and his plans from a desk beside it. The wool was thick and of excellent make. Charlie had managed to get quite a deal on it due to his connections with Dorothea. He turned to his plans, and retrieved a knife that hung on the wall. Carefully, Charlie traced around each individual piece of the outfit, cutting the designs out one at a time. Contrasting his previous work, Charlie did this painstakingly slowly, and ensured that his knife never snagged on the thick stock he had printed the designs onto.
Then Charlie used the patterns to cut out what remained of his design. He did this by laying the cardstock designs over the wool, and then placing weights atop them to keep both the designs and fabric secure underneath.
Using a tape measure hanging loosely around his neck, Charlie then measured each piece against the measurements he had taken from Vanessa prior. Satisfied, Charlie began the most nerve-wracking part of the entire ordeal. Actually cutting the design out.
He was slower still at this, but did not second guess himself. As desperate was Charlie was to get this right, he seldom had room enough in his mind for first-guessing let alone any supplemental reading. He made the cuts cleanly, working his scissors through the fabric heedless of how it tried to resist him.
Once the pieces had been cut out, Charlie lined them up on the table, and tested how they looked before he put his needle to work. It looked good, he decided, but was missing something. Just a single unbroken line of blue was hardly as eye-catching as this coat needed to be. He was unsure what to add to it, though. Generally coats were accented with military finery, but Vanessa had no such claim.
Charlie glared at the half-finished garment, but could not force it to speak. Luckily, he did not have to.
“A good start.” Dorothea said, stepping up behind him with an armful of clothes. “But it could use a bit of cording. A nice white along the flaps, seams and pockets would do well, don't you think?” She set the clothing down at his workstation on the other end of the room, and then stepped over to more closely examine the jacket. Her eyes wandered over the fabric, looking for a mistake only a master's eye could catch. She did not find any. While the true test would come when the garment had been fully sewn together, she found his work thus far promising.
“Gah, of course! I knew I was missing something obvious.” He said, the pieces slotting together only once his mentor had done the work for him. “We have some laying around, don't we?” Charlie said, swiveling his head to scan the room.
“We do-,” Dorothea began, but gestured back towards the work she had just dropped off for him. “-and I will be happy to show you how to join all of the layers another time.”
The sight of the clothes surprised Charlie, and he realized suddenly how quickly time had escaped him. “Of course, Miss Renard.” Charlie said brightly, setting his prior tools down and leaving the jacket again unfinished where it was.
When she smiled at him again, Charlie used his powers only briefly to witness her symphony. There he saw her pride and content playing above the other emotions. Just seeing that was enough to make his spirit swell, and he relinquished control as quickly as he had established it.
“Keep up the good work, Charlie.” Dorothea said graciously before returning to the front of the shop.
Charlie went back to the mundane alterations for the rest of the evening, grinning a mile wide all the while.