“Just another tuck here below the bust and slightly more fullness over the hips…and the hem sitting just at the knee.”

“You don’t think it a little over the top for a woman in her seventies?”

Ketty added a few finishing touches. Judith was an excellent dressmaker and more than capable in her role as Ketty’s second in command, but she sometimes lacked that little extra creativity to translate the customer’s design into a sketch that could then be drafted to a pattern. Her eagerness to get the job done sometimes made her seem brusque but beneath her stiff exterior Ketty knew Judith to be kind-hearted. Ketty also knew the woman who had ordered this dress very well. It would be the fifteenth special outfit she’d made for Enid Hanson and she understood what suited the tall but curvy body of her long-time customer.

“Our work is to make our client look exquisite but also to feel special. Enid still has great legs.” Ketty’s hand swished lower down the paper. “The eggplant shantung will complement her complexion and provide a soft rustle as she moves.” She could picture Enid in the outfit that, as yet, was still a sketch created from the magazine pictures she had provided at her first appointment.

Ketty looked up at the sound of hurried footsteps across the polished cement floor of the workroom.

“Miss Carslake, we do not run in this establishment.” Judith’s clipped voice brought a glow to the younger woman’s cheeks and she slowed her approach.

Ketty smiled at the young assistant. Her dark brown hair, straight with a fringe sitting just above her eyebrows, created a frame for her pale face. She wore a dress of sheer black fabric she’d designed herself. It was skilfully cut so that it floated around her small frame without bulk and stopped well above her knees showing off her shapely legs, which disappeared into the black leather of her Doc Marten boots. A heavy silver chain hung around her neck, the cross it supported resting just above her waist and giving her the look of an angelic but slightly underdressed nun.

“What is it, Lacey?”

“This box arrived by courier. I think it’s the buttons you were waiting on for Miss Davidson’s wedding dress.” The assistant’s look shifted to the orchid chiffon and lace garment on a nearby dressmaker’s dummy.

“Thank you, Lacey.” Ketty took the box and hugged it to her. “What a relief.”

“The dress is looking beautiful, Miss Ketty.” Lacey turned back. “You can rest easy on your cruise now. It will be finished in time.” She stayed where she was.

“Is there something else?”

“I also wanted to let you know my IT friend has your new website ready. I’d love to show it to you before you go.”