Chapter 354 - The Artist Learns the Craft of Sewing

To begin the craft of sewing, Yujia needed instructions. She wanted whatever she made to look good, not like the work of a three-year-old.

As a result, she wandered around in the villa until she ran across Lili, carrying a bucket of taros. 

"Lili!" Yujia called out, waving her free hand. "Are you busy?" 

Pausing in her steps, the young woman replied, "Not in particular; I'm just bringing these taros to the kitchens. Auntie says she wants to make pastries with it." 

"That sounds good," Yujia said.

"En, did you need anything?" Lili continued walking after asking, Yujia following.

Gesturing her head at the bundle of cloth in her hands, Yujia explained, "I actually wanted to ask if you knew how to sew a cloak, or if not, if you could direct me to someone who could help me with it. I've been wanting to sew one as a gift." 

"A cloak? Cloaks are rather simple; I can certainly help you sew one!" Lili seemed rather interested. 

Thinking about it, Yujia should've guessed that Lili knew how to sew. Most women in this time period did, considering how essential of a skill it was. Especially for people of Lili's background— as someone who was not a noble— she would probably sew her own clothes. She probably also made the clothes for her aunt and father, considering how Chef Hong didn't look like she had much time to be sewing when she was cooking in the kitchens all the time.

To have Lili help her out was something Yujia had no complaints towards. She found Lili easy to get along with, her demeanor quite gentle, so to have someone like that to guide her was the best option of all.

"You know what, let me just drop these taros off. I'll come find you in your courtyard?" Lili proposed.

"Take your time; there's no rush!" 

…

"I know this sounds peculiar, but hear me out: I want to sew chambers of these goose feathers into this fabric, then wrap it with another layer of fabric to create a cloak."

Upon hearing Yujia explain her project, Lili thought for a few moments.

Then, she said, "I actually quite like your idea!"

"You think so?" Yujia found herself grinning brightly. "I figured it would be good in keeping whoever wears it warm."

"So this cloak isn't for yourself?" Lili leaned her head over to observe the goose down and roll of fabric Yujia had laying by the side.

"No, it's for…" Yuija found her voice trailing off. What was the term to describe her relationship with Yu Zixu? If it was modern day, she could just call him her boyfriend, but that clearly wasn't an existing concept in this time. She ended up saying, "It's for Yu Zixu. He's another disciple in the academy."

"I see." Lifting her brows, Lili's expression showed that she understood what Yujia was talking about, but thankfully, she wasn't a gossipy soul like Yujia's master. Without many demands for details, she added on, "This fabric looks excellent. When dealing with feathers, it's good to select one more intricately woven ones so that the feathers don't poke through."

"I'm really glad to hear that." 

"The part about the pockets of feathers will certainly be something I've never tried before, but it's a good challenge!" she declared. "I'm sure we can make it work." 

And thus, the task of sewing a cloak began.

As it turned out, today was a day for beginning the creation of the inside cloak. First, Lili had Yujia pick a container for measuring the feathers. Yujia chose a small jewelry box for rings that she had no use for. It was the perfect size for the amount of down that would go into each pocket, to ensure even warmth across the cloak. While Yujia was figuring that out, Lili cut out two large pieces of cloth, which would likely end up being the down-stuffed section, Yujia imagined. When Yujia observed her doing so, she noticed how careful Lili was with the roll of fabric, along with her shining eyes at the cloth. 

It seemed like Lili truly liked the blue satin. Considering how much cloth there was in the giant roll that Yujia bought, Yujia figured any extra leftover cloth should be gifted to Lili as a gift for her help, if Lili wanted it.

Once they had everything prepared, now came the learning curve.

A piece of scrap cloth on hand, Yujia practiced stitches under the guidance of Lili. As an instructor, Lili was incredibly patient. She first demonstrated the type that Yujia needed to learn through slow motions, then gave tips to Yujia while Yujia did it. Only when she was confident Yujia knew how to stitch nicely— which included an hour of practicing— did they move on to the next step.

Now, it was the act of actually making the down quilt-like structure within the cloak. Following Yujia's explanation of how the chamber-arrangement would allow the feathers to be evenly distributed throughout the cloak, Lili had planned out a way to create it. Demonstrating the patterns and method that they would use, she let Yujia give it a try with scrap cloth again. Then, Yujia began to work with the actual fabric of the cloak.

Admittingly, while Yujia held the official fabric and needle in her hand, her heart was much more nervous than when she was using just practice fabric. Although Lili assured her that any mistakes in stitches could easily have the threads snipped away to give a perfect chance to restart, Yujia couldn't suppress the slight panic going through her brain at the first few stitches. 

Yet as she began to get into the rhythm, familiar with how the needle wove up and down through the fabric, familiar with how the threads tugged pieces of cloth together, familiar with the distance and patterns of the stitching, she began to gain more confidence.

After some decent progress, Lili advised for Yujia to temporarily stop so she could observe how things were going. Yujia's needle paused, handing the section of cloth she was working on into Lili's hands.

Not even a minute of observation later, Lili complimented, "Are you sure you're new to sewing? Your needlework is fantastic. It's all incredibly evenly spaced and neat."

Face slightly flushed, Yujia replied, "Thank you." 

Before she began sewing, she did imagine that this process would involve her fingers getting impaled by the needle countless times. But thank transmigration for muscle memory: considering how much practice the Fourth Miss had with sewing and embroidery, Yujia imagined that she wouldn't be stabbing herself with a needle anytime soon, nor would her stitches end up messy.

Now that Yujia certainly knew what to do with sewing, Lili gave a few more tips. She estimated that Yujia would finish a little less than half of this part of the cloak today, at the speed she worked at, if Yujia continued to sew until evening arrived. Ensuring that Yujia knew how to tie knots, Lili then informed, "Auntie still needs me to help with her work in the kitchens."

"Do go help her with that," Yujia said with a smile, "I think I'll be fine with this part of the stitches. Your guidance has been more than helpful thus far."

Smiling back, Lili nodded. "Alright then!"

…

For the rest of the day and most of the next, Yujia was sewing. 

She had feared that it would turn out too thick and fluffy for the cloak to look normal when wearing it. However, the feathers that she had sewn into the chambers were not overly fluffy at all, serving their purpose while remaining flat. When pairing it with the outside layer Yujia would sew for the cloak, she could already envision how well it was going to turn out. 

Besides learning these sewing skills, Yujia also began to understand why so many individuals enjoyed sewing. It was seen as a woman's craft of this time because many women relied on it to survive and make a livelihood, like the Fourth Miss's birthmother. But besides the mundane parts of sustaining oneself, sewing was also a wonderful time to gather her inner thoughts. It gave her a sort of silence and serenity, a break from the business of the world around her.

In a way, Yujia found it similar to art. When she painted, she also sought after this isolated dimension she could fall into, where it was just her and her canvas and inks. 

Perhaps, Yujia imagined, after this project with the cloak, she could get into sewing for her own enjoyment. She liked the thought of exploring this craft some more beyond the basics.

Time seemed to fall away once she entered the realm of stitching. On the second day, Yujia began in the morning after eating breakfast, worked until a brief break for lunch, then continued stitching until she looked up and realized the sun was beginning to set.

However, under the last rays of sunlight, Yujia tied a final knot and stepped aside. The inner section of the cloak was complete. 

The final product resembled a down quilt. Dark blue and the exact size of the cloak Yujia owned, from far away, Yujia imagined that it could already pass off as a cloak. But with another closer examination, she figured it really looked more like a blanket. 

She hoped that when she encased it in another layer of fabric tomorrow, it would look more like a cloak. But as a blanket, it really didn't look bad at all.

Standing up and giving her tired legs a stretch, Yujia then wrapped the finished "quilt" around herself. Even though she worked indoors, she could already feel how warm this cloak was. She truly wouldn't mind making herself a blanket like this in her spare time, to keep her warm in the winter.

At this point, the cloak was beginning to resemble a cloak much more. 

Now came the part of fastening the fur Yujia picked out to the neck of the cloak. This part was much more of a challenge. Lili spent a lot of time instructing how to cut and sew the fur to fabric, then attach it to the cloak. However, Yujia still managed to get it done without too many issues.

Fixing cloak straps was not much of a struggle either, simply involving many stitches to ensure that the straps would hold the entire cloak together.

At last, it was beginning to resemble the end product. 

To test it out, Yujia tied the cloak around herself, walking around the courtyard with it on. She had to admit that considering she sewed the cloak herself, she was far too biased, but regardless of the bias, she still felt like the quality of the cloak was excellent.

The fabric was cleanly cut and hemmed. The stitches were evenly spaced. The fox fur was perfectly centered. Altogether, the cloak was not heavy, nor was it puffy. It looked just like any other cloak— the magic appeared when one wore it.

With it on, even though Yujia wore a light set of robes, the cold weather was almost unnoticeable. Wrapping her in its warmth, the cloak acted almost exactly like how a long down coat in modern times would. There was the fact that Lili measured the fabric to where Yujia estimated Zixu's height would be at, so the cloak was a bit too long for Yujia when she walked around with it on, dragging a little bit on the floor. However, considering Zixu's height, the length of the cloak was sure to be perfect as well.

Now that she had a close-to-finished cloak in her hands, Yujia wondered if she should give embroidery a chance. She hung it up on a rack and stared at the cloak for a long time.

Embroidery would be a beautiful addition to the cloak. Except, Yujia didn't want any added embroidery to turn out as an unnecessary touch. She also knew her sewing skills were alright, but embroidery was entirely a different matter. If she messed up the cloak by adding embroidery, she didn't know how she could forgive herself.

Xie Yufeng was standing by her side when Yujia was deep in contemplation. She noticed the spool of thread in Yujia's hand, then went, "You're thinking of embroidery?"

"Yeah," Yujia answered, patting the sides of the cloak to remove non-existent dust, "I want to try embroidering it, but I don't want to mess up the entire cloak. Besides, well, now that I think about it, if I try to embroider the outside fabric, I'd have to unstitch all the sewing I did for the outside to get the fabric free. So, I probably won't do anything." She gave a deep sigh.

Yufeng walked up to the cloak, eyeing it up and down. Then, she reached over, picking one of the two straps up, tapping her fingers on it.

She suggested, "Why don't you try embroidering these straps then? Maybe a small symbol?"

Yujia took in this suggestion. She stared at the straps. Slowly, she turned to Yufeng, saying, "You're a genus."