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Post by Fern on Sept 26, 2014 13:51:42 GMT
Aura
Could she be anymore embarrassing? Really, did she have to say that about his underthings? A quiet huff of annoyance was given but he didn't really say anything. What was there to say? She was helping him after all. Her impish smirk did seem to lesson his growing irritation with her though. Following her when she led the way to where they had begun, holding the cloth she had given to him and the needle and thread for his own project, he sat down and promptly sat there staring. The cloth was in his lap. The needle was gripped by the fingertips of one hand. The 'string' was gripped in the other.
Aura had made it look so simple. Squinting, he brought the needle over to the 'string' and tried to get it through the hole. It failed. He tried again and failed. He tried again, and it did not work. He was not the sort to give up though and he wasn't used to asking others for help. So time and time again he worked at trying to thread his needle. It ended up with him pricking his finger hard. Shaking it off he went back to trying, with never a complaint or huff of frustration. No, he was calm and iron-willed. He would get this done or die trying.
Looking up to Aura when she 'guessed' that he didn't have a clue what he was doing, he shrugged, frowned ever so slightly at his frayed 'string' and poked finger and said, "You're guess would be a good one." Then instead of asking if there was a trick to it, he went back to his task of trying to get the needle threaded. |
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Post by Lynn on Sept 26, 2014 18:17:02 GMT
Tobias
She remained quiet as he stubbornly began to try and thread his needle, just watching and waiting for an answer to her guess. When she got one, she bit her tongue and resisted the urge to smile. He was at least attempting it, unlike some of the others, she noted, looking around. She then brought her gaze back to Tobias and reached out, gently stopping him. "Here's a hint. That frayed end will never go through the eye unless you find a way to make it a solid piece again. You can do that by doing this." She picked up an excess piece of thread she'd cut off while working and showed him what she meant, rolling the end between her lips and making it into a pointed, solid piece again.
Once he had that done, she guided him on what needed to be doe to make sure the robe remained in one piece on the day of the Hatching. She had added a second, slightly softer layer of fabric to the underside of her's, since the linen was scratchy and she knew that, even though she would not be Standing THIS Hatching, when she did the fabric would agitate what she knew would be scars on her back. She gave him the option of adding the liner as well, showing him how to if he chose to do so.
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Post by slush on Sept 27, 2014 23:58:04 GMT
Amelia, too, rolled her eyes at the strange boy's dramatics. She smiled broadly at her twin's arrival, eagerly motioning him over. She was, as always, pleased to give his firelizard as many skritches as the creature desired, so she obliged Kestrel as she shrugged at Theo. Neither of them had to wait long to find out, but Amelia's face fell when Lenara explained today's purpose.
She lagged behind reluctantly, only stirring at Kaira's cheerful admonishment. "I should've listened when our mother told me I ought to learn to sew," she muttered darkly. "Teddy, you'd better not laugh at this impending disaster!" She shot her brother a warning look as she trailed behind the camp instructor, trying to model herself after the other woman since she obviously knew what she was doing. "How on Earth..." She cast a desperate look toward Serenity. Just now she couldn't remember if the youngest Miller had succumbed to parental urging or not. Hopefully she had so she could coach Amelia through this. The woman touched Teddy's wrist lightly, inclining her head toward Serenity. She sidled towards the redhead, several pieces of fabric in hand.
Navelon looked balefully at Kaira. "You've no idea how bad it can be," he declared, holding up both hands. "The only talent I have that involves a needlethorn is growing and harvesting the bushes. You should've seen the mess I wore to my last Hatching. I swear it nearly fell apart halfway through!"
He marched forward with a long-suffering sigh once Lenara's speech concluded. He picked up cloth at random, deciding it would be a waste of time to even try to measure. He'd end up with a hodgepodge of pieces anyway, considering his abominable lack of skill. He sat down, set his jaw, and got to work, cursing under his breath all the while--and occasionally loudly, when he pricked his earth-stained fingers.
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Post by Fern on Sept 30, 2014 18:49:24 GMT
Tag: Aura
Tobias was not offended at all that she had stopped him. If she wanted to help, that was a welcome thing. He watched as she demonstrated how to make the thread a point again. Doing so with his own frayed piece, he rolled it between his lips and then looked at it. Aura was right. It was better now. It took a few more tries and a few more trips to his lips before he got the needle threaded but he got it done and he was pleased. One could hardly tell from his stoic expressions that he was, but it was alright. It did not matter to him if others knew what he was feeling or didn't. He was pleased and that was that.
Then began Aura's helpful instruction to get the actual sewing started. It was harder than it looked. How she made it look so easy, he would never know. Her small stitches looked even, perfectly spaced and an equal distance from the edge of the cloth pieces. His attempts were anything but. But the more he pushed and pulled his needle through the cloth, the more they began to line up. It was still far from perfect and he was not liking what he was doing, but it would do. Maybe later, when he wasn't in class. He'd unstitch his work and do it again better. For now, he was doing the best he could as his fingers tried to get used to this new task they had never done before.
The extra lining idea was a nice thought but he was doing his best just getting his first layer done. He appreciated Aura's instruction though and nodded to her when she gave it. But adding an extra lining of his own was not going to be happening anytime soon. Maybe if he kept standing for more clutches, he might try at a later date. For now, he just concentrated on sewing what he did have.
Numerous times he would cringe slightly and suck on a finger that got poked and once he rubbed his leg and also his palm. He was getting himself poked like a pin cushion. It was a hard way to learn but effective. He figured out very quickly how to keep track of the pointy end. When his sewing was done he held up his robe and the beginning of his smile slowly faded as his mouth turned into stoic frustration. A slight tweaking of his lips and a furrowing of his brow was given to the offending fabric. How had he managed to sew closed the hole where one of his arms would come out? Huffing with the irritation, he dropped it back to his lap and just stared at it. How did he fix this mess? He wondered. Did he have to start all over again? |
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Post by Lynn on Oct 7, 2014 18:01:37 GMT
Tobias
Aura watched him from the corner of her eye as she worked on her own robe, not really thinking about it as she added the lining inside and settled the whole thing together. When he gave such a mournful look, she looked up fully once more and checked what he'd done, then smiled reassuringly. "Here, let me see it for just a moment," she said gently, offering her hand. Once he'd handed it over, she checked the stitching, which was very good given he'd never done this before, then handed it back, along with a tiny pair of scissors she used sparingly due to not knowing if she could replace any part of them if they broke. "Use these to cut the thread holding the hole together. Then, you can just fix that area instead of having to redo the whole thing."
She gave him a light smile, then turned her head as she heard grumblings and her lips twitched. "Excuse me a moment," she said lightly, getting up and going to help a younger Candidate who'd somehow managed to sew his own shirt into his robe.
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Post by Dragonmage on Oct 7, 2014 21:20:57 GMT
Tag: Aura, anyone
Gavin swore under his breath as he picked out what had to be the hundredth unintentional knot in his thread. His row of stitches looked pitifully uneven, wobbly, and short compared to those of many of the candidates. He could have sworn that the needle and thread were laughing at his attempts to construct a robe. Finally, the knot was untangled and he could keep trying to force the materials to cooperate. It wasn't like he was even trying to do the sleeves yet! He just wanted to get the general body of the robe shaped first. If he had time after that, he was going to add elbow-length sleeves. Hopefully that would be a decent compromise between the heat of the sands and putting at least a layer of cloth between him and potential dragonets with lots of claws and not much coordination to go with them.
Well, at least he hadn't sewn his own shirt into the robe somehow like one poor young candidate. The boy looked totally baffled, at least from Gavin's quick glance away from his work. After a while, he stared down at a serpentine seam along one long side of his robe up to the arm hole and sighed. Now what was he supposed to do to get the thread up to the shoulder of the robe? Admittedly, the seam was ugly, wandered from the edge of the robe over towards the middle and back like a confused river, and he probably should have hemmed the fabric first to keep it from fraying, but he really didn't want to have to do it all over again. This time his cursing was slightly louder, but he really didn't want to draw too much attention to his work from the Weyrlingmistress. She might make him rip out and do it all over again. That would be a disaster.
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Post by summerrain on Oct 7, 2014 21:49:27 GMT
Everyone seemed to be making good progress. "Also, so everyone knows, if anything happens to your robe, whether you grow out of it or it gets otherwise damaged, the pieces of fabric will be in that closet," Lenara explained, pointing to the closet in question. "You will be expected to make every robe from now on by yourself, on your own time."
Eternity was doing well with hers. She'd learned to sew for a small roll as a maid in a play years ago, and it was finally paying off. Neat stitches went up each side, and she'd hemmed around each piece beforehand. She had just finished up the shoulders, delicate straps that would sit just next to her collar bone, And she was working on hemming the four long pieces that would turn into the sleeves. She had decided on three-quarter sleeves, just because she had always liked the look. A boy nearby had managed to sew his tunic to his robe, and the confused look on his face spoke plenty, though he didn't say a word. She turned back to her work and sewed the sleeves on, giving the black ball of fur next to her a quick pat as she worked.
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Post by Fern on Oct 8, 2014 15:46:02 GMT
Aura, Lenara
Tobias hesitated when Aura asked for his robe. Handing it over anyway, he watched as she examined it carefully. The scissors she pulled out was a surprise but a good one. When he was handing the robe back he took the scissors very carefully and cut the thread in the middle of the arm opening. Then he handed the scissors back and watched as she got up and went to go help another. Returning his attention to his own robe, he used his needle to pick the stitching out of the cloth where the opening should be. Then when he had it where he wanted it. He tied off the two ends on either side like he had been shown and then lifted it up to see it.
Should he do sleeves? Maybe. Maybe not. It wasn't that he was lazy. It was just better to be unencumbered by cloth if he had to move in a hurry. Besides the sands were hot. He might not want sleeves for that reason too. After considering this for a while, he gathered his robe into one arm. Then he took his needle and thread and stood. Going to the table of supplies he put his needle back where he had gotten it from and said to Lenara, "I am finished."
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Post by syren on Oct 9, 2014 0:38:35 GMT
Jenesys used his teeth to cut the thread when he didn't need the length he had. He'd measured himself with the fabric three times and still wasn't happy with the length. He had long legs and had to make sure the robes would be at the proper length for said long legs. After another ten minutes he decided to work on the top where he'd make the robe the sleeveless variety. He looked up when one of the other boys said she was done and moved to present his robes to Lenara. Turning his eyes back to his robes he completed the sleeves and pulled the robe on over his head. he let the fabric fall and come to rest just at mid thigh...definitely needed to be longer, but the top portion fit well so that was a plus.
"Just a bit longer," he mumbled to himself as he pulled his robes off over his head and sat back down in order to add more fabric to the bottom of his robes making sure they would reach down to just below his knees. Once he was finished with that he pulled the robes on again. They were a bit snug, but he wouldn't really be wearing clothing underneath, just underwear, so it would be a bit looser when he was wearing them during the Hatching. Walking over to Lenara he waited his turn to have his own robes inspected. Once he offered them to Lenara his curiosity got the better of him.
"I know you said we were to wear underwear underneath the robes...but what about shoes...do we just wear..." he said, looking down at his feet where he was still wearing the boots he'd been wearing on the shuttle.
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Post by summerrain on Oct 9, 2014 1:50:55 GMT
Lenara turned her attention to one of the off-world Candidates as he held his robe to her to be inspected. The stitching was all over the place, and the holes for the arms and head were a little uneven, but she'd seen worse. To be fair, her first attempt at a Candidate robe hadn't been all that great either.
"Not bad, for a first try," she told the young man, Tobias. "I recommend that you get used to sewing your own clothing, it's normally up to the Rider to repair their clothing and other equipment, though most people are kind enough to at least offer materials." She turned to the other boy, inspecting his robes. "Each of you should find a pair of sandals at the foot of your bed within the next few days. Those are the only shoes you are to wear during Hatching. And you will want to make sure they are kept maintained as well, though if you outgrow those you can request a new pair. However, unlike the robes, which are ready as soon as you complete them, the sandals will take a few days to be made once the request is put in." This one must've had a little more experience with sewing, his stitches were more even than the first boy's. "Your robe looks fine as well. Both of you are free to leave whenever you wish."
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Post by Lynn on Oct 9, 2014 2:41:47 GMT
Aura gently and carefully cut the young man's sleeve from the robe, snipping only the stitches that bound the two together, then showed him, as she had Tobias, how to do his stitches so he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Having reassured him he'd not made a HORRIBLE mistake, she then turned her head and watched as Lenara examined the two boys' robes. Standing, she padded over a little shyly and offered her completed robe for inspection. She knew it wouldn't be needed just yet, but still.
Kaira had also completed her's, and was now just sitting and watching the others. She'd not made any move to show it to Lenara, had it merely laying in her lap, but she was aware she probably should. She didn't intend to go anywhere just yet, but soon she'd need to, since she'd been 'assigned' the chore of assisting the Healers, no real chore for her. She loved her task, and the Healers liked having her there.
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