Design and Colour

Writers: AL, Mirren
Date Posted: 15th December 2015

Characters: Meledei, Jaffra
Description: Meledei views dress designs.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 7 of Turn 8

The call for her to come check on the designs had come more quickly than expected. After she had finished most of the day's work, Meledei left the Records Room a little early in order to keep the weaver from having to work too late a shift. When she arrived, she knocked on the door before entering and smiled at the weaver. "Hi Jaffra, I got your message."

"I beg your pardon?" Jaffra blinked at the goldrider over her stitching. "Oh, yes." She put the work aside and rose. Her sketchbook was on a table to one side of the room. She opened it and turned to those she'd done for the goldrider. "I trust you'll find something here to your liking."

"All right, show me what you've got." Meledei drew alongside the weaver and peered down at the book. "And please tell me which ones you favour and why."

"I favour them all, because they'll suit you. After that, it's a matter of your taste and opinion." Tempting as it was, Jaffra could never tell anyone what to wear.

Meledei didn't jump the gun and pick one right away. Rather, she took a few moments to study the drawings. If Jaffra spent time making them, she was going to spend time looking at them before making a decision. She did so twice with each one, then finally turned to the long dress with off the shoulder sleeves. The waist descended in a V, then flaired out in layers of cloth. "Of them, I think that's my favourite."

Jaffra nodded, neither approving nor disapproving. Which design the goldrider preferred was of little concern to her.

"You'll need to select a fabric. I'll show you the ones which will be appropriate for that design." She led the goldrider to the fabric room.

"What's your opinion for colour?" Meledei queried as she trailed on the heels of the weaver. Although Meledei knew what she preferred, she was curious as to what someone else might think.

Jaffra picked up a board with a dozen pieces of fabric attached to it and held it up beside Melodei's face. "Anything in these shades." She lowered the board to show the goldrider.

They weren't colours that Meledei would normally have chosen herself, but the weaver was probably more experienced in such matters. As looked over them, Meledei allowed her fingers to touch each of them. Deep reds, golds, and oranges were beautiful, but she had never thought to choose them for a dress. "All right, I'm going to take your advice. I like the more brilliant colours, but...if you think it will look good, then use what you think would be best."

Jaffra nodded and reached for a bolt of deep red and another of a softer green. "Either of these would compliment both you and the dress. The green would bring out your eyes, but the red is more risqué." Some women liked that; others did not.

"Risqué? Really?" Meledei had no idea how a colour could be considered 'risqué'. "I like the red personally." Although rich, the red wasn't bright, which made her like it even more. "Let's go with that then, and any other accent colours you think would do well."

Jaffra nodded. "Some might suggest that choice of colour and shade suggests things about people's personalities. Brown might be dour. Black is - well a colour often preferred by men who consider themselves rebellious; and so on. The design of the outfit can influence that as well, as I'm sure you know. Some men prefer tight trousers and women like their dressed cut low and other don't. The holds especially-" She realised she was going on and stopped.

"Perhaps black accents. Some embroidery?"

"Oh, I like the idea of embroidery." Meledei's eyes lit up, but she contemplated the suggested colour. "I'm not sure black...maybe a nice warm brown, or siena?"

"Which would you prefer?" Either would work and it wasn't up to Jaffra to decide.

"Probably the sienna, but if it doesn't look good, don't use it, use what does." Meledei wasn't a weaver with the same sort of colour sense, so she wanted the woman to have the freedom to make changes as needed.

"Sienna will be fine," Jaffra replied. "Now we need to select an embroidery pattern, unless you have something in particular in mind?"

"I don't. Do you have examples of patterns?" Meledei would know what she wanted when she saw it, but she couldn't come up with something on her own.

"I have plenty out in the other room." Jaffra gestured toward a shelf full of books. Several contained patterns for embroidery.

"Then why don't we take a look?" Meledei loved embroidery. It would be nice to have a new dress for the next event, whether that be for hatching or, as she had originally stated, for a Gather.

Jaffra nodded. This was always the bit that took the longest.

Last updated on the December 21st 2015

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Design and Colour