Susan has decided to teach Charlene how to drive and after a month or so they meet Penny and Robyn up at the Mt. Dandenong Observatory. When they invite Susan and Charlene back to their place for a coffee she learns about Robyn's part time job as a dressmaker and decides to book her for a measuring up session. Author's note: a doona is a duvet or eiderdown
Mount Dandenong Friday, 8 June, 2001.
Susan had always considered herself to be fashion conscious. Albeit, she wasn't the kind to spend her weekly salary buying clothes, she upgraded her wardrobe a couple of times a year, but she got many of her clothes from op shops. It wasn't because she was on a low wage. On the contrary, she could have shopped at Myer or Country Road but had a preference for second-hand clothes. She liked wearing clothes that had been worn by someone else, an ordinary woman or a rich woman, it was all the same to her.
However, the first time she opened a catalogue in Robyn's studio she felt overwhelmed, there were dozens of patterns and about thirty to forty folders, filled with patterns of all descriptions and types, from dresses and skirts through to blouses, tops, trouser suits, skirt suits and even wedding dresses. There were folders for men and children too and Robyn remarked that if she liked something in the menswear folders then it could be modified to suit her.
"We're adaptable," she nodded at Charlene who'd come along to look at the folders after a driving lesson that saw them come all the way here. She'd been nervous of the steep turn into Penny's drive but after a failed first attempt she managed it on her second try.
"So, how do we go about this?"
"I take your measurements, if you're after tops and blouses then we just measure the top half but if you want trousers and dresses then we measure everything. We've got a pricing plan to suit almost every budget, I'd suggest the satin level, you order up to eight items every month and hopefully we can get them all to you by the end of the month."
"Uh huh," Susan nodded, "how much?"
"Here," Robyn pushed a price list across the table, "you pay a monthly or quarterly fee, but some pay yearly because it's a thirty percent discount, it starts at basic, which is six a month and goes to platinum, which is a lot more," she looked over at Cindy as she moved forward.
"We also deduct a month from the annual plan due to Christmas and you get five free items on your first order if you take out the annual plan."
"Is that for any level?" Charlene peered at the list.
"It is," Cindy nodded.
"Okay," Susan replied, "it's satin for me and I want the whole lot."
"Me too, but I'll just stick with the basic one," Charlene spoke up.
"So, what happens now?" Susan asked.
"You strip down to your underwear," Robyn walked over and turned a blind control and closed the Venetian blinds. Susan shrugged and undid the clips and buttons on her denim overalls and let the garment fall to the floor. She stepped out of it and started to unbutton the zebra-print blouse. Robyn picked up a measuring tape and a pencil and pad.
"You too," Cindy nodded at Charlene, "I'll measure you up at the same time."
Despite her apparent ease at stripping, deep down she felt uneasy. She knew Robyn and Cindy were gay, they were in stable relationships but Charlene was single.
"Am I doing it right?"
"You're fine," Robyn reassured her, "just breathe in when I say."
"So, how long have you and Penny been together?"
"About a year or so... okay, breathe in now."
She inhaled and Robyn checked the measurement and wrote it down. She glanced over at Charlene who had just stripped down to her underwear so that Cindy could measure her.
"Was it an easy choice to make?" Susan asked.
"Not really," she raised her left arm until it was level with her shoulder, "I knew I was probably that way inclined," she measured her arm.
"But you were still in church?"
"Well, most of my friends were there and I had a boyfriend," she wrote the measurement down and then proceeded to measure the other arm, "but we were really just friends. I had him around to keep the other guys at bay."
"Oh," Susan looked down as she wrote down the next measurement.
"The hardest choices were between women. I had several chasing me, some because I was a virgin and some because they actually liked me," she measured her waistline.
"But Penny was ultimately the only choice although I thought she was out of reach," she wrote a figure down then measured the distance between her throat and waistline.
"Do you still speak to these other women?"
"All but one, Helen wound up in jail for accessory to armed robbery and fraud, the rest are friends though, it's important to have female friends too."
The rest of the measuring session was completed in relative silence but as she was fastening the buttons on her bib Susan asked another question.
"So, if someone was questioning their sexuality. What would your advice be?"
"Go out on a few dates with a woman or women," Robyn tore the sheet off the notepad.
"You don't have to kiss at the front door it's like dating a guy. You either click or you don't, enjoy the ride. It's a journey not a destination."
"Absolutely," Cindy grinned, "all right, you can get dressed too, Charlene. We'll get the catalogues out and if you order a three piece suit then that counts as one garment."
A few minutes later several folders were laid out on the cutting table, Susan stared at the first image, several women wearing versions of the same blouse but in different colours.
"There's quite a lot here, how long do we have?" Susan asked.
"As long as you need, you've got a total of thirteen," Cindy replied.
"I like the blouse," Susan nudged her glasses.
"Yeah, I've made that recently," Cindy turned the envelope over to show a drawing of a woman in a three-quarter length pleated kilt and a white blouse with a princess collar.
"This is a kilt pattern but I've also got that blouse pattern too so if you ordered both at once then it would count as one item."
"Wow," Susan nudged her glasses, "now that's a deal the big stores don't give you," she studied the drawing, "I might choose both of them, please, in white."
"Good choice," Robyn remarked as she moved towards the bookshelf.
After a bit of flicking back and forth Susan eventually chose two three-piece skirt suits, a black one with a three-quarter length buttoned skirt and a tan one with a knee-length skirt. The next item she wanted was a grey three-piece trouser suit and a black one. She then chose a pussybow blouse with wide ties, she wanted it in red satin. Sometime later she discovered tie blouses with detachable ties that could be left off.
"They're quite popular," Cindy commented, "you wear it with or without the tie."
"I'll have two of them, in satin, grey and white?"
Robyn then showed her some double-breasted blouses in the cupboard she wanted two of them in white and pink silk-polyester. The last three however were difficult and Cindy and Robyn reassured her she didn't have to choose the rest today but she persisted and finally found a white three-quarter length dress that buttoned in the front. The last one was found when she asked about ruffled blouses and was shown a picture of a white blouse with a ruffled collar and cuffs, and three rows of ruffles on each side of the bodice. The last item came by accident when Charlene got to the fetish and novelty clothes and found a Red Riding Hood outfit and Susan chose the waistcoat in black, which came with hook and eye fastenings.
"I forgot to tell you that if you don't choose all your monthly quota the remaining items are tacked onto next month, we do that three months in a row and then it resets," Cindy told them.
"Wow," Susan nudged her glasses, "that's something you don't see at Myer."
"Their staff would be killed in the stampede, hell hath no fury like women at a sale," Cindy grinned as she folded her arms, "it'll take a couple of weeks to make them though."
"There's so much here," Susan sighed, "that waistcoat will be great for work."
"Why?" Cindy grinned, "where do you work?"
