Writing for Fun
It Happened In The Gallery - Joan Bond
November 2014
Hannah was at Petworth again. She was studying fabrics at present, and this house had wonderful pictures of Ladies Of Note . . .
She was nineteen now and had made the final decision to become a designer, having worked in a couturiers' workroom for a year, studying all the arts of cutting and stitching clothes together from patterns, from the materials then the sewing all together into a garment. She knew she would never have the nimble fingers of the girls who sewed on diamante pearls and all the wonderful embroidery of the magnificent dresses made there, but you have to know and work the basics to even think about design.
Petworth House was quite close to the tiny flat her dad had rented for her and she had a pass that would grant her entry any day.
Having her pad to complete the drawing she had made of Lady Caroline she studied the picture and her sketch and found it was slightly different. The skirt was slightly ruffled and not straight. Imagination, she thought, almost completing the drawing she moved on to, Henry Tudor; she wasn't really interested in the menswear but the clothes of the time were rich in colour and materials. She thought of life as it was in that era. Ok if you were in the upper classes, but even then folk didn't really know how safe life was if you fell out of favour. Which involved kings also. On the Tuesday she was back of course and the skirt was straight again, but there was a hole in the ruff at her neck. Checking her drawing again she was sure the lady hadn't been smiling before.
She began to check the other five ladies in the pictures. They seemed ok, but she hadn't studied them as much as Caroline.
She didn't return until the following week, then concentrated on Henry. His cod piece was definitely awry. Obviously she, while reading up the rowdy history of the Tudor times, had been living in the past and seen things that weren't there. Worrying about this she decided to try another house Hampton Court.
Again she was seeing Henry, older now and putting on weight, his clothes were still amazing and the other ladies at court excelled in beauty and elegance.
Six months later she returned to Petworth and she was certain Lady Caroline was plumper; there was a large lump causing change in the line of her garment. Ambling along the Gallery she noticed all the other ladies but one were also filling out nicely and there definitely was a large smile on Henry's face.
Being known so well at this house she managed to get permission to stay late one night. Making herself comfortable on a couch behind a screen she dozed off to be awakened by . . . loud music and much frolic and wine being served to all the ladies and gentlemen who had somehow climbed down from the portraits and she now knew exactly what had been happening in the gallery!