Dear Diary

Chapter 69

Meeting my dressmaker went a lot smoother than I expected. I guess I kind of had the image of an eccentric fashion expert in mind, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was, in fact, a granny with a stylish (but not over the top) dress-style. Of course, the fact that she had dyed her hair half black, half white was a bit of a shock, it did suit her nonetheless.

"Oh, thank you!" Amber exclaimed happily as I showed her the pictures of what I had in mind for my dress. "Lilac is such a beautiful colour, and it will definitely suit your complexion. I am so sick of making burgundy dresses; it's the 'in' colour this year."

Now normally every year there was an unspoken proclamation that comes about with which would be the most popular colour and cut for dresses. It's normally navy's, blues and reds. This year it was burgundy, nude and black. I had a feeling that I might be the only one in lilac this year.

I fell in love with my dress design the minute I saw it in the magazine. It flows to the floor, with a one shoulder strap and left leg slit. But what really made it stand out was the diamond pattern that began where the slit ended and appeared to creep up the side of the waist and disappear behind the back to reappear as the right shoulder strap.

"Okay, now we just need to go and find the material. I think bonbon will do well, and get those diamante patterns I saw in a little craft shop. Then I just need to go home and take your measurements and mould," Amber said as she placed the designs in her file.

"Mould?" my mom asked.

"Yes, it's the way I make my dresses. Instead of you coming for a fitting everyday, I put a baggy shirt on you and tape you in tightly, cut you loose, stuff it and voila! I have a personalized mannequin of your specific body shape whenever I need it."

"That's so clever," I uttered.

"Of course you will need to try on the dress so I can get the length and slit right," Amber reminded us as we all stood.

"Yes, please, " my mom quickly said. "I don't want her slit going too far up."

"Mom ..." I groaned.

-

After a long day of shopping for material, we were finally able to find everything my dressmaker needed. I arrived by her house mid-afternoon and was instructed to put on my baggy shirt. I stood in the middle of her living room as she then proceeded to wrap layer upon layer of different tapes over my hips, waist and chest so tight that I could barely breathe.

At least I now knew what it felt like to wear a corset. No wonder those women had trouble breathing long ago.

"Okay, so how long do you want your slit to be?" Amber asked.

"About four horizontal fingers above the knee," I wheezed as she taped my neck. Even though I would have been fine with mid-thigh, my mom certainly wouldn't be so I went with that instead. I couldn't have it on the knee though; that style didn't suite me.

"We want the dress to be respectable," my mom said and Amber nodded her head as she began to draw lines on the tape in black ink.

"Oh yes, I know. I made a dress for this one girl, her boobs could have easily shown if the wind blew the wrong way, but obviously the girl is someone who always gets what she wants. How's this, Lizzy? Too high, too low?"

I looked down to see that she was drawing the path the fabric would go across my chest. "No, that's perfect."

Amber nodded and finished scribbling some things down before finally cutting me free. I can't describe how nice it felt to be able to breathe again. "Okay, so your dance is next week Friday. I think we should have a final fitting Wednesday and I'll deliver it Thursday. Okay?"