Little Sparrow

Chapter Twenty-Six

That evening, I disappeared up to my room to work on the dress.

I sat in the centre of the floor with the dress on my lap, stitching the small flowers into the skirt of the dress with as much precision as I could muster. When I had made my Sunday best all those years ago, it had been a rush job to finish it as I would need it for Sunday service and Matron did not want us going in our standard uniform. This had been the first time that I had to put the time and effort into something, and I wanted to do it right. James had given me a task and I intended on carrying it out without going wrong.

The collection of other embellishments James had given me sat to my left and I debated whether or not to use any of the ribbons he had provided, but I did not know how. In truth, I had been so used to simple things that trying to create something grand and extravagant felt too foreign and difficult to even comprehend. I had wanted to do something simple, but the fabric James had given me did not lend itself to anything standard. It required an extravagance that I could not provide.

Still, perhaps the flowers would be enough, and I did not want to go too far, there were some rather questionable designs floating around. When I would watch through the windows of the orphanage, Charity and I would try and find the most ridiculous outfits we could amongst the sea of women and try to decide why someone would choose to wear something like that in public. It always appeared to be the rich people who wore the extravagant clothing, perhaps their way of showing off.

"Knock, knock!" William said right before he knocked twice on the door. His head poked around the door and he looked at me, grinning.

"Yes?" I asked, almost stabbing myself with the needle.

"What are you doing?"

"Take a guess."

"Hm." He slid into the room. "Sewing a brand-new waistcoat for the snowman."

"You wish."

William laughed and dropped down onto the floor beside me, picking up one of the strips of ribbon and tying it around his head. He created a small bow on the top of his head and smiled at me and even when I laughed, he did not take it off. Instead, he grabbed another different coloured ribbon and tied that one behind it even though the two colours could not be any less different. I watched him go through all the ribbon until he had all of them tied on his head.

"How do I look?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" I said, laughing.

"That's just rude, Lizzie. I think, when we go back to see James on Friday, you should put one of these in your hair."

"And you're an expert on women's clothing now?"

"Of course, I am."

I shook my head, still laughing as he grabbed all the ribbons and tugged on the loose ends to untie them. He then dumped them into the floor in a pile and leant back on the palm of his hands, staring up at the ceiling. After a little while, he started to whistle a Christmas song to himself and I did my best to ignore him and focus on getting the glowers stitched onto the skirt of the dress.

To make sure the dress did not look a little odd or misshapen, I had decided that I would need to cover the entire skirt in the flowers else it would look odd. I had only a couple of days left to complete it and I wanted to make sure it was perfect before Friday. All I had to do was find the time to finish stitching the flowers onto it, even if took me all night I had resolved to cover the entire skirt in the small flowers. I did not need the other embellishments, but I did not want to leave them either.

With William still whistling to himself, I reached across the floor and grabbed onto the spare piece of fabric that I cut the original dress shape out of. A small square of it had been used to practice my flower stitching but the rest was in perfect condition. If I could find something to make with it, then I could use some of the other embellishments, like the buttons, but I did not know what to make. I had only ever made a dress and anything more was far beyond my limited skill set.