Flashback Bored to Tears

[Adon]

Endrykas, 10th of Fall, 486

Adon shifted his splinted leg on the blankets and scowled as he heard his brother run past the tent flap. He was bored. Bored, bored, bored, and stuck with a splint for who knew how long before he was allowed up and about again. Falling out of the tree had been a really stupid idea. He fiddled restlessly with the fringe of the top blanket, twisting it round his fingers one way and then unwinding it and twisting it round the other way instead.

His mother stopped beside him, set down a basket, and pulled the fringe off his fingers. "If you can mend tears in clothes, you can mend tears in tents," she told him, "it's just a matter of scale. Here..." She fished out the top item from the basket - a torn shirt - and dropped it in his lap along with needles and thread.

He grabbed the shirt, glad for something useful to do, found the thread colour that matched it, and snapped off a length. Licking the end of the thread, he carefully threaded a needle, tongue jutting from the corner of his mouth in concentration, and turned the shirt inside out. That way his mend - no matter how bad - would be hidden from view once he was finished. It was simple enough, just a straight rip down the back. He pulled the edges together, found one end, and started to sew.

Boxcode by Shimoje

[Adon]

He pressed his thumb on the end of the thread to hold it in place as he made the first stitch, but he wasn't quite firm enough and it slithered out of his grip and all the way through, so that there wasn't any stitch left. He sighed, shifted his grip and tried again, his tongue sticking out in concentration. This time he successfully made the stitch, and then added two more stitches right on top of it to lock that end of the thread down. He pulled the edges of the tear together and held them like that with his fingers as he sewed over them. His needle went through the cloth and then looped over the top edges of the tear to punch back through the same side each time in an overstitch. Some of them puckered a bit too tightly as he drew the edges together with his needle. When he tried to loosen up, there were gaps instead, and the stitching went the other way into too loose.

He still worked steadily down the line of the tear, managing to create a mend that was thick and slightly lumpy, but still worked. He fastened off the thread at the end and pulled the basket closer to find another piece of mending. He came up with another shirt, one where the underarm seam had popped open, creating a hole that was slowly expanding down the side of the shirt. He compared the shirt to the threads and found a colour that almost matched. He unwound a length, snapped it off the hank, and threaded the needle. Turning the shirt inside out, he considered the problem. The tear went in several directions rather than being straight and simple. He could start in the armpit and just yank all the corners together, but that would make for an uncomfortable lump, or he could start on the side and work his way up and round.

Boxcode by Shimoje

[Adon]

He was saved from having to make an immediate decision on how to tackle the tear by one of the pavilion dogs shoving her head into his hands and demanding to have her ears tickled. She clearly thought he wasn't doing anything important either, and he just got the needle out of the way before it pricked her. He pushed it into the cloth of the shirt to keep it clear of her and pulled her silky ears gently, before scratching behind them. She pushed her cold nose happily into his ribs and her wagging tail thumped against his good leg as she sprawled against him, her sides swollen by the pups she was carrying.

He fussed her a moment longer, shifting his hurt leg protectively clear of that thumping tail, then picked up the shirt again. He studied the unravelling seams some more, then started at the end of the longest tear, pulled the edges together and slowly began to sew. He worked his way up the side to the armpit. He wasn't experienced to know to lock down the unravelling seam before he started, so the tear would soon start up again, but for now it held. He made a tiny, loose stitch that drew the three corners towards each other and held them in roughly the right position while his needle jabbed its way up each of the other tears and fastened the shoulder seams back into place.

Boxcode by Shimoje

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Let me know if i missed anything!

 

Adon

XP

• Sewing: 3 XP
• Animal Husbandry: 1 XP

Lores

• Sewing: pull edges together on a straight rip
• Sewing: hold firm enough so the stitch doesn't come apart
• Sewing: lock down an unravelling seam while mending
• Animal Husbandry: dogs demand attention