The Request

Richard had come late at night, asking for a simple request: he wanted to work on a project together with Sothe. By the box of supplies, it was evident what it was for, even before Richard had said anything. He wanted to work on his scarf together as a sort of birthday gift for himself. Sothe was happy to oblige, seeing as he always had a nagging feeling he could have done much better the first go around. While still in the planning stages, Richard provided more materials to work with, cloaks, emeralds, gold... too much material for it to remain in the shape of a scarf. And so Sothe had the idea to transform it into something more of like an over the shoulder cloak with the original scarf running down the middle.

Patterning

Now that the plan was set, Sothe brought Richard to the top floor of his workshop. There was a light exchanging of pleasantries as a Textile Collective delivery person gave the pair the Levinen they'd need for the project. Sending them on their way, Sothe sat Richard down in front of a book full of patterns and measurements. He pointed to a specific pattern that would have two lengths of fabric connected to clasps, one draped across the shoulder blades, and one underneath that would cascade down the back.

"We're going with this pattern since... well. You gave me a lot of fabric to work with this time around. A simple scarf won't cut it."

The scarf as it existed was fine enough on its own in terms if structural integrity, but Sothe was skeptical of the Olde Emeraldite cloaks given their age. He would do nothing about their faded colors, seeing as it added character. Instead he would reinforce them with a Levinen cloth liner. 

"Ok... so we're going to start off tracing the shape of these cloaks onto the Levinen using sticks of charcoal. Thankfully for you... it's just smaller rectangles than the width of the fabric. It'll be easier to draw on the fabric if we lay down the edges with rocks like... this. See? Flat and not going anywhere."

While Sothe left the tracing and cutting of the fabric to Richard, he had layed put the scarf on a separate table and began to cut the thunderleaf threads stitched all across the length of it. They'd be replacing it with the perfected version of the original thread, Levinen. As each bell and gemstone was released from their thick stringed chains, Sothe organized them into piles for later. The pair worked in silence. They needed the quiet these days.

Sewing

"Ok... now we're going to sew the liner to the cloaks. Don't worry about perfectly aligning the two pieces together, that's what the seam allowance is for."

Sothe demonstrated the anchoring stitches that they'd be using for the cloaks to Richard. It came through the finished side in such a way that was decorative in nature. Small emerald designs began to take shape on the cloaks as the pair worked on their lengths of fabric. Sothe occasionally looked over to see how Richard was doing. It was clear that while he wasn't practiced with needlework, he was getting the hang of it relatively quickly. When Sothe had finished with his section first, he prepared the next piece while Richard was getting ready to cut off the excess fabric.

Clasps

"Now that the cloaks are done... we need to see about attaching them to the golden clasps... ...Which we probably should have made first but oh well. I'll leave that part to you, just make sure we can set in all the old gemstones between the two clasps."

And so, Richard was tasked with creating the clasps out of a resplendent, sparkling gold. Seeing as gold is a soft metal, there wasn't a need for a proper blacksmith set up. Sothe had suggested Richard use the leatherworking bench downstairs, but he needed to grab some tools from his home first.

Upon returning to the workshop, Richard saw a sketch of the design Sothe had in mind with measurements on the workbench. There was a note as well that read:

"If you need anything, just say the word."

Now settled and prepped, he started by hammering the gold into two rough, slight concave shapes. Then, he began to add divots for the gemstones. The smaller prongs were carved out from the material, while the larger ones would be soldered in later. After making sure each gem of storms bead would fit, Richard began to refine the shape of the clasps more, adding in various cravings and borders to create more visual interest. Then, he properly set in each gem, keeping the largest ones clustered in the middle with the smaller ones dotting the outside. He polished the metal with a metal polish and a cloth, later cleaning the pieces of excess debris once finished. It sparkled and glistened beautifully as Richard inspected his work in the light of the setting sun. And so, he reconvened with Sothe upstairs, who himself had been working on another aspect: attaching the scarf to the topmost cloak.

Sewing 2: Electric Boogaloo

Sothe realized quite early on that he'd need to have much of the length of the scarf drape over the shoulders for this new design. The rich and vibrant pigmentation of it already made it stand out over the cloak it would be attached to, but he needed to go the extra mile of making it beautifully ornate in its presentation. 

And so, he created beautiful swirling patterns surrounding emerald designs that made it look dazzling. Yet, that wasn't enough, for he felt the need to once more add gems to the end of the tassels. This time, it would be three beautiful, sparkling emeralds on each end, carefully threaded onto a bunch of tassels, flaring at the end.

When finished with that, he overlaid the scarf on top of the cloak he had worked on. The thought had crossed his mind to have Richard's on top, but the few mistakes there were a bit too noticeable for his liking. He ensured to perfectly center and align the scarf before anchoring it in place with pins and sewing the two pieces together. By the time Sothe was finished, Richard had come up the stairs with the two clasps in hand.

Affixing

Now that all the pieces with prepared, all that was left was to put them all in place. The cloak Richard worked on had both clasps secured tightly to the top corners length wise. A golden chain was attached to one side, but not yet the other. With the little space in the clasps's hoops, Sothe looped the topmost cloak through, leading with the tassels. There was enough clearance to just barely allow everything to stay secured and in place.

For the final act, Sothe had Richard step up and put on the garment for the first time. Sothe connected the chain to the other clasp before he began to tug at the cloak, adjusting the fabric and how it hung off Richard's shoulders until it sat perfectly. He grabbed a full length mirror and placed it in front of Richard. Sothe stood there admiring the work of the pair and the way it sparkled even as the sun completely faded from view. If it looked this good in lamplight, they could only image how it'd look outside in the sun.

"...We did good. This... this was good."