Disclaimer- In a hole, there lived a hobbit. That right there, I don't own
that. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring
them all and in the darkness bind them. I don't own that either. Notice a
pattern?
I am going to be doing some measurement taking on Diamond in this chapter, and, seeing as how I am not a very avid sewer, and do not know much about what's what, and how to do all of this, I may make SEVERAL mistakes. I will do my best to be accurate, but if you find something wrong could you tell me please, so I could fix it? Thanks.
I am also going to be making the hobbits sort of Scottish in this chapter, with tartan plaids. If this is a bad idea, please tell me. Thank you again! _________________________
I followed Pim down corridors, through a right turn, more hallways, through a hearth-room another right turn, through a sitting room down a bit and a left turn, through what may have been a parlor, more hallways, and finally, we stopped at a door that opened up into a spacious receiving room. My head was still spinning from the immensity of this one hole, when Eglantine emerged from seemingly nowhere and invited me in.
"You too, Pimpernel, if you want to help me. I have Clover and Lily to help with the dress fitting, but if you want to watch, the more's the merrier, I say," Pim took up her mother's offer, and Eglantine took me into her fitting room, which was near the back of the room. I assumed that this was all Eglantine's quarters, and the idea of having an entire area of such an ample house was intriguing and elating.
The fitting room was small, or so it must have seemed, because it was the first cluttered room I had seen in the Great Smials. Nothing in particular about it was messy or disorganized, when I looked closely, but the overall effect of it was slipshod. The walls closest to me were lined with long table-fulls of folded and stacked cloth of all materials, colors, and prints, buttons, lace, thread bobbins, needle, and odds and ends. The only break in the tables was for a mirror, which was Hung on the far walls were half-finished and completely finished articles of clothing. Breeches, shirts, blouses, skirts, dresses, aprons, undergarments, and nightclothes lay all hung in a row. In the center of the room, there was a raised pedestal that, to my surprised, turned with a simple push of the foot or hand! The pedestal was directly across the room from the mirror, and standing on it (the pedestal, not the mirror) were two handmaidens, I suppose they were Clover and Lily. One was fussing with the measuring ribbon around her neck, the other was whistling a jig that I had heard several times before.
"Ah, Lily. Could you please take Diamond's measurements, and Clover, get the parchment and quill please. You need to write this down." The girl that had been whistling pulled a small sheet of parchment from her apron pocket, and took the quill from its resting position in the ink jug on the table. The other, Lily, I would assume, whipped the ribbon off of her neck, and instructed me at various points to "stand straight", "stop laughing, this is very serious" and what had to have been my favorite, "pull your arms out". I strongly considered telling Lily that I could not pull my arms out, because that would hurt very badly, but I knew what she meant, and was afraid of invoking the wrath of any of the hobbits in the room other than myself and Pim, whom I suspected this would amuse very much. So I stood there, smiling to myself, as Lily shouted numbers to Clover such as "bust 35" or "skirt 24" and finally, I was free to leave the pedestal. My feet ached from standing still for so long, and I wanted to sit back down with Pippin more than anything, but Eglantine wanted to show me different fabrics and whatnot, so she took me into a back closet. Shelves with skeins upon skeins of wool and flannel (AN- are wool and flannel one and the same?), many more rolls of cotton, for the underclothing, aprons, and summer clothing, I suppose. Several rolls of silk, lace, satin, velvet, and taffeta were present also, and every single roll was on it's own shelf, and was clearly marked, in calligraphic penmanship. I did notice one small shelf, marked Tartan, but there were only two small rolls of the thick, wooly fabric on that shelf. I asked Eglantine about this, and she took me to that shelf.
"Oh dear, only Paladin and Peregrin use that, and only when they must. That is the tartan plaid of the Took house. The Brandybucks have one as well, as did every other respected family in the Shire at one point, I presume. I don't know if the Bagginses still even have their plaids anymore, but the Brandybucks have upheld this tradition even better than us. Peregrin will be wearing his at the wedding." Eglantine paused, and ran her hand over a roll of satin fabric.
"Tell me what you want your wedding dress to be like, Diamond." She said finally. I was taken aback. The question itself wasn't so strange, but the suddenness of her saying it. The question seemingly came from nowhere, and I wasn't prepared for it.
"Ma'am, I cannot do this to you and your family. I cannot have you pay good money to make me dresses and frocks, and keep me under your hill with you. It wouldn't be right, I need to earn my keep."
"Nonsense, dear. By being here, you have earned your keep. Do you know how enraptured Peregrin is with you? He rarely left your bedside when you were ill, and he murmurs your name all the time in his sleep. You would break his heart if you left, don't you love him the same?" I nodded.
"Yes ma'am. I love Pippin more it seems, every day. Oh I know that sounds so childish, so immature. Something you would read about in a grand story where the hero falls in love with the maiden, and she him." I trailed off, feeling stupid. I knew I had started babbling, and was only glad that I had stopped myself. But Eglantine didn't seem to notice.
"Dear, you love him, he loves you. There is nothing wrong with that. I am just so thankful he found you. The sorts of girls in this land are shocking. Wenches of all the wrong sorts, and girls in cahoots with ruffians and scoundrels that still roam this land. I had thought that Paladin, Peregrin and the cousins had run them out of the Shire in the last age, but I suppose not. And many lasses your age find themselves in their hosts. Then there are those that are perfectly innocent, yet simple-minded. The proverb goes 'not all that glitters is gold', and it is true with these girls. Beautiful as elves, they are, but simple as children. I am so happy that he found someone competent and beautiful as well." Eglantine hugged me again, and I felt ashamed for her compliments. I was never one to take compliments well. Never have I thought that I deserved them.
"Ma'am," I whispered quietly. She stepped back, and smiled. (What a capricious lady, I thought) and pointed to the lace shelf.
"Do you want lace on the dress? Should it be silk, satin, or velvet? Do you want pearls, or flowers on it? Do you want flowering sleeves? A low or high neckline?" I realized, that maybe, I could take more liberty on this dress than I thought. I was so accustomed to Mrs Teagrass's take-charge ways of dressmaking, that I had never done something like this before.
After much deliberation, and help from Mother (Eglantine insisted that I stop calling her "ma'am" and call her "Mother". I do not wish to dishonor my mother's memory in any way, but wouldn't Eglantine be as a mother anyway?) I decided on a velvet gown. This velvet, is unlike that of I have ever seen. It is not any one color, but many different colors. When sunlight reaches the dress one way, it is a dark purple. It has also been white, light purple, dark and light blue, and rosy colored. I seem to shimmer when I walk, but the fabric is so warm and comfortable. Mother says it is from the elves, a last gift to Merry and Pippin as they were headed home from Rivendell.
As she told me this, my breath caught in my throat. I had never seen an elf, such fair beings of beauty and light, and now, to be wearing a dress from fabric that they wove themselves? Such an honor! I almost didn't feel worthy to wear such a dress, but the material was so wonderful that I could not refuse it.
The dress neckline was high, because I could not stand revealing dresses like some lasses loved to wear. The neckline, and my hemline, and the hem of my sleeves, were all hemmed in silver lace. I needed no sash, for the dress did not hang loosely. Almost magically, the dress conformed to my body, and pulled itself in at my waist. My sleeves flowered out like they did in my pink dress, only the point where the arm-hugging material stopped and the fabric flourished off was not at my elbow, but my mid lower arm, so it was much more comfortable.
The dress needed no embellishments other than a simple bit of lace, because it was beautiful in itself, and when it was finished (for it was finished quickly) I marveled at the loveliness of it. It seemed ethereal, and I felt like I was no longer in the Shire, but in the Undying Lands with the elves.
I would spend hours on my bed, just lying there in my dress, (letting my lazy side get the better of me) and would imagine what it would have been like to be on the Quest with Pippin and Merry, and to have seen the elves. Every time I wore that dress, I felt so much happier, and as if I were truly an elf. Mother said I was going to ruin my dress, but I never did. No one could ever ruin a dress like that.
I was told that I needed other dresses besides that of my wedding dress. I would need everyday frocks, blouses, skirts, dresses, aprons, and undergarments. Never have I ever had so many clothes as when I lived at the Great Smials. I had three regular dresses, three party dresses, three nightgowns, four skirts, four matching blouses that ran a good deal under the skirt, to my mid-thigh. I had many, many camisoles and petticoats and bodices, three everyday aprons with white lace around the edges, and two dress aprons that had blue lace.
Perhaps I have been conveying the thought to the reader that I grew up in destitution. This is not the case. My parents were fairly wealthy hobbits, owners of The Stepping Stone pub in town, which was an assuredly reputable establishment. We never went without, but my parents never saw the need to have more than one work dress, an apron, a skirt and blouse for special occasions and a camisole that could serve as a nightgown. All of my childhood had I learned modesty, and lack of indulgence. I knew from the start that I could expect a completely new lifestyle from the Tooks, but this grace that they bestowed on me seemed, given what I was used to, was completely unexpected.
Still and all, I was enjoying the experience.
I am going to be doing some measurement taking on Diamond in this chapter, and, seeing as how I am not a very avid sewer, and do not know much about what's what, and how to do all of this, I may make SEVERAL mistakes. I will do my best to be accurate, but if you find something wrong could you tell me please, so I could fix it? Thanks.
I am also going to be making the hobbits sort of Scottish in this chapter, with tartan plaids. If this is a bad idea, please tell me. Thank you again! _________________________
I followed Pim down corridors, through a right turn, more hallways, through a hearth-room another right turn, through a sitting room down a bit and a left turn, through what may have been a parlor, more hallways, and finally, we stopped at a door that opened up into a spacious receiving room. My head was still spinning from the immensity of this one hole, when Eglantine emerged from seemingly nowhere and invited me in.
"You too, Pimpernel, if you want to help me. I have Clover and Lily to help with the dress fitting, but if you want to watch, the more's the merrier, I say," Pim took up her mother's offer, and Eglantine took me into her fitting room, which was near the back of the room. I assumed that this was all Eglantine's quarters, and the idea of having an entire area of such an ample house was intriguing and elating.
The fitting room was small, or so it must have seemed, because it was the first cluttered room I had seen in the Great Smials. Nothing in particular about it was messy or disorganized, when I looked closely, but the overall effect of it was slipshod. The walls closest to me were lined with long table-fulls of folded and stacked cloth of all materials, colors, and prints, buttons, lace, thread bobbins, needle, and odds and ends. The only break in the tables was for a mirror, which was Hung on the far walls were half-finished and completely finished articles of clothing. Breeches, shirts, blouses, skirts, dresses, aprons, undergarments, and nightclothes lay all hung in a row. In the center of the room, there was a raised pedestal that, to my surprised, turned with a simple push of the foot or hand! The pedestal was directly across the room from the mirror, and standing on it (the pedestal, not the mirror) were two handmaidens, I suppose they were Clover and Lily. One was fussing with the measuring ribbon around her neck, the other was whistling a jig that I had heard several times before.
"Ah, Lily. Could you please take Diamond's measurements, and Clover, get the parchment and quill please. You need to write this down." The girl that had been whistling pulled a small sheet of parchment from her apron pocket, and took the quill from its resting position in the ink jug on the table. The other, Lily, I would assume, whipped the ribbon off of her neck, and instructed me at various points to "stand straight", "stop laughing, this is very serious" and what had to have been my favorite, "pull your arms out". I strongly considered telling Lily that I could not pull my arms out, because that would hurt very badly, but I knew what she meant, and was afraid of invoking the wrath of any of the hobbits in the room other than myself and Pim, whom I suspected this would amuse very much. So I stood there, smiling to myself, as Lily shouted numbers to Clover such as "bust 35" or "skirt 24" and finally, I was free to leave the pedestal. My feet ached from standing still for so long, and I wanted to sit back down with Pippin more than anything, but Eglantine wanted to show me different fabrics and whatnot, so she took me into a back closet. Shelves with skeins upon skeins of wool and flannel (AN- are wool and flannel one and the same?), many more rolls of cotton, for the underclothing, aprons, and summer clothing, I suppose. Several rolls of silk, lace, satin, velvet, and taffeta were present also, and every single roll was on it's own shelf, and was clearly marked, in calligraphic penmanship. I did notice one small shelf, marked Tartan, but there were only two small rolls of the thick, wooly fabric on that shelf. I asked Eglantine about this, and she took me to that shelf.
"Oh dear, only Paladin and Peregrin use that, and only when they must. That is the tartan plaid of the Took house. The Brandybucks have one as well, as did every other respected family in the Shire at one point, I presume. I don't know if the Bagginses still even have their plaids anymore, but the Brandybucks have upheld this tradition even better than us. Peregrin will be wearing his at the wedding." Eglantine paused, and ran her hand over a roll of satin fabric.
"Tell me what you want your wedding dress to be like, Diamond." She said finally. I was taken aback. The question itself wasn't so strange, but the suddenness of her saying it. The question seemingly came from nowhere, and I wasn't prepared for it.
"Ma'am, I cannot do this to you and your family. I cannot have you pay good money to make me dresses and frocks, and keep me under your hill with you. It wouldn't be right, I need to earn my keep."
"Nonsense, dear. By being here, you have earned your keep. Do you know how enraptured Peregrin is with you? He rarely left your bedside when you were ill, and he murmurs your name all the time in his sleep. You would break his heart if you left, don't you love him the same?" I nodded.
"Yes ma'am. I love Pippin more it seems, every day. Oh I know that sounds so childish, so immature. Something you would read about in a grand story where the hero falls in love with the maiden, and she him." I trailed off, feeling stupid. I knew I had started babbling, and was only glad that I had stopped myself. But Eglantine didn't seem to notice.
"Dear, you love him, he loves you. There is nothing wrong with that. I am just so thankful he found you. The sorts of girls in this land are shocking. Wenches of all the wrong sorts, and girls in cahoots with ruffians and scoundrels that still roam this land. I had thought that Paladin, Peregrin and the cousins had run them out of the Shire in the last age, but I suppose not. And many lasses your age find themselves in their hosts. Then there are those that are perfectly innocent, yet simple-minded. The proverb goes 'not all that glitters is gold', and it is true with these girls. Beautiful as elves, they are, but simple as children. I am so happy that he found someone competent and beautiful as well." Eglantine hugged me again, and I felt ashamed for her compliments. I was never one to take compliments well. Never have I thought that I deserved them.
"Ma'am," I whispered quietly. She stepped back, and smiled. (What a capricious lady, I thought) and pointed to the lace shelf.
"Do you want lace on the dress? Should it be silk, satin, or velvet? Do you want pearls, or flowers on it? Do you want flowering sleeves? A low or high neckline?" I realized, that maybe, I could take more liberty on this dress than I thought. I was so accustomed to Mrs Teagrass's take-charge ways of dressmaking, that I had never done something like this before.
After much deliberation, and help from Mother (Eglantine insisted that I stop calling her "ma'am" and call her "Mother". I do not wish to dishonor my mother's memory in any way, but wouldn't Eglantine be as a mother anyway?) I decided on a velvet gown. This velvet, is unlike that of I have ever seen. It is not any one color, but many different colors. When sunlight reaches the dress one way, it is a dark purple. It has also been white, light purple, dark and light blue, and rosy colored. I seem to shimmer when I walk, but the fabric is so warm and comfortable. Mother says it is from the elves, a last gift to Merry and Pippin as they were headed home from Rivendell.
As she told me this, my breath caught in my throat. I had never seen an elf, such fair beings of beauty and light, and now, to be wearing a dress from fabric that they wove themselves? Such an honor! I almost didn't feel worthy to wear such a dress, but the material was so wonderful that I could not refuse it.
The dress neckline was high, because I could not stand revealing dresses like some lasses loved to wear. The neckline, and my hemline, and the hem of my sleeves, were all hemmed in silver lace. I needed no sash, for the dress did not hang loosely. Almost magically, the dress conformed to my body, and pulled itself in at my waist. My sleeves flowered out like they did in my pink dress, only the point where the arm-hugging material stopped and the fabric flourished off was not at my elbow, but my mid lower arm, so it was much more comfortable.
The dress needed no embellishments other than a simple bit of lace, because it was beautiful in itself, and when it was finished (for it was finished quickly) I marveled at the loveliness of it. It seemed ethereal, and I felt like I was no longer in the Shire, but in the Undying Lands with the elves.
I would spend hours on my bed, just lying there in my dress, (letting my lazy side get the better of me) and would imagine what it would have been like to be on the Quest with Pippin and Merry, and to have seen the elves. Every time I wore that dress, I felt so much happier, and as if I were truly an elf. Mother said I was going to ruin my dress, but I never did. No one could ever ruin a dress like that.
I was told that I needed other dresses besides that of my wedding dress. I would need everyday frocks, blouses, skirts, dresses, aprons, and undergarments. Never have I ever had so many clothes as when I lived at the Great Smials. I had three regular dresses, three party dresses, three nightgowns, four skirts, four matching blouses that ran a good deal under the skirt, to my mid-thigh. I had many, many camisoles and petticoats and bodices, three everyday aprons with white lace around the edges, and two dress aprons that had blue lace.
Perhaps I have been conveying the thought to the reader that I grew up in destitution. This is not the case. My parents were fairly wealthy hobbits, owners of The Stepping Stone pub in town, which was an assuredly reputable establishment. We never went without, but my parents never saw the need to have more than one work dress, an apron, a skirt and blouse for special occasions and a camisole that could serve as a nightgown. All of my childhood had I learned modesty, and lack of indulgence. I knew from the start that I could expect a completely new lifestyle from the Tooks, but this grace that they bestowed on me seemed, given what I was used to, was completely unexpected.
Still and all, I was enjoying the experience.