"How did we go from me wanting to see you two in stockings to me revolutionizing the clothing industry?" I ask once the five of us reach the carriage.

"Just lucky, I guess." Apricot says and sits next to me so she can play with the short red petals that make up my 'hair'.

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Rem opens. "But, do you know of any other devices like this sewing machine? Oh, and make a right, here." He adds when we come up to the intersection.

"Only the circular knitting machine comes to mind." I reply after thinking it over. "But, I've only ever seen a picture of one of those."

"Knitting machine?" The old elf tilts his head to one side with a 'Hmm.'

"Yeah, but all I know about it is that it uses a ton of these little hooks, each with a little flap thingy." I make a few out of wood to demonstrate. "See the hook catches the yarn when it goes past, and then the flap closes to pull it through the last course before popping open again when the hook is pushed back up to accept the yarn once more."

"That... wow, it's so simple." This comes from Lauren who is peering at the needles just as intently as the clothier.

"Yeah, but I don't even know where to begin with the mechanism needed to move the hooks up and down." I say with a wry smile. "And, I'm sure there are more complex models that can do all sorts of things. But, I only know about this because I went looking for easier ways to knit socks after my mom started making me knit my own when she got tired of replacing them all the time."

"Hah!" Rem barks out a laugh. "Well, thank goodness for that."

"Mhm." I shrug. "I only ever saw the model used for socks, but I'm pretty sure the same type of mechanism is used to make finer fabrics too." I pull a t-shirt for storage and hand it over to Rem. "I did this with magic, but it's the same basic principle. Going around in a circle means not having to switch from knit to purl every row."

"No wonder Blanche is worried about you." There's a new light in his eyes when he looks at me. "You're the one who supplied the Baron and his family with those new clothes, aren't you?"

"Yes. I promised them some silk too, and I still need to enchant that record maker for Lori." I add with a sigh. "Hey, Apricot. I don't suppose you know any magic that can get rid of the need for sleep?" I ask only half-jokingly.

"Sorry, no." She responds with a giggle. "And, even if I did, I can think of a few better things to do with that extra time than making gadgets." Her giggle morphs into a low chuckle and is soon joined by mine and Amelia's.

"My apologies for these three." Lauren says to Rem with a sigh. "They're still in that whole lovey-dovey stage. I'm used to Helen being the one like this, it's weird seeing it on Amelia."

"Hehehe. Oh, that's alright." The elf chuckles. "I've been with James going on forever now, and we're still in that stage."

"Don't worry, Lauren." A hint of a wicked smile plays on Amelia's lips. "I'm sure you'll meet a boy that can excite you as much as clothes do... one day." Lauren looks like she wants to smack her for that.

"Ah, we're here." Rem interrupts while trying to hide his smile. "Let me introduce you all to Cecil." He hops down after the carriage stops and guides us into a large building.

"Rem! What's the special occasion? You never stop by anymore." A tall man who was showing a teenager how to do something on a loom breaks into a wide smile and greet Rem with a hug. "Who are your friends..." He pales slightly when spots me. "Oh, no, Rem. You may have the clout to go against Wolfsfeld, but I'm just a simple weaver."

A simple weaver with a dozen looms all in operation by dozens of workers. Along with dozens more carding and spinning fibers. And, there are even a few youngsters picking seeds out of cotton on one side of the room. Plus, I smell dye in the air, so there must be vats in another room.

"What are you giggling about?" Amelia elbows me in the ribs while Rem tries to bring his friend around.

"Sorry." I whisper back. "It's just that I prefer this type of greeting rather than the whole 'savior of the city' thing that starting to go around." I spotted more than a few people pointing at me during the ride around town. "Well, that and imaging what that woman's face is going look like once she puts two and two together."

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"Oh, gods!" Amelia covers her mouth to hold back her laughter, but Lauren and Apricot don't bother.

"Uh, is everything alright back here?" Rem rejoins us with a downcast look on his face. "Look, I'm sorry about Cecil, but we can find somebody less pigheaded to work with you."

"Don't worry about it." I pat him on the shoulder. "This little trip hasn't been an entire waste; it did remind me of another device that can quickly and easily remove all the seeds from cotton." I say just loud enough to carry over the clacking of the looms.

"Not that you really need it." Amelia plays along. "You grow tonnes of cotton in one go and just make the seeds fly out likes it's nothing."

"Oh, I don't know about tonnes." I hedge and materialize all of the cotton in my inventory. "This is what, a quarter-tonne, max."

"Are you forgetting about all that you used making clothes for the Baron?" The smile on her face grows as Cecil's face falls. "And, how many bales did you leave with Melanie to make silk from?"

"True, true." I nod and start making the cotton disappear again. "Remind me to make some more when we get home. We'll weigh it all out to be sure. Well, that and I want to see if I can make a single cotton plant grow as big as an oak tree this time." A small fuzzy seed appears in the palm of my hand along with a handful of soil. This seed quickly grows into a plant over a meter in height.

"Alright, I give! Enough already." The weaver breaks down. "It looks like Blanche bit off more than she could chew this time."

"Oh, whatever do you mean, Cecil?" Rem asks with a sardonic smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. "Aren't you just a simple weaver who is too afraid to cross the big bad wolf?"

"..." The weaver purses his lips before taking a deep breath and blowing it out through his nose. "I apologize for dismissing you out of hand. I should not have let her reputation scare me like that." After reciting that, his eyes say 'are you happy now?'.

"So, you're saying that you don't mind showing Sorrel how the loom works?" It seems that Rem can't help but get one last dig in.

"I'd be honored." Cecil replies with a tight smile.

"Do you mind if I make a duplicate?" I ask and already have one half done before he can answer. "These are called the heddles, right? Do you have to string them up every time? Wouldn't it be easier to have a continuous warp and just splice new thread into the old?" I have a complete machine that is already strung up and being run my magic by the time I finish asking my questions.

"Uh... yes." Cecil goggles at my "If you look in back, you'll see that we have a couple looms set up like that for the more common fabrics." The ones he points to have a wall of spindles feeding thread into the warp.

"Oh, yes." I nod and start taking notes. "I don't suppose you need a clock, do you?" While he's trying to parse that nonsequitur, I'm thinking up and writing down ways to improve the process.

'I'm not sure that wall of spindles will work at speed, but if we use the ball bearings it should be feasible to wind them all together on one large spool. And, the size of the shuttle is a limiting factor too, need to find a way to wind one automatically, or just do away with it altogether. Should make everything out of steel just for durability; talk to Ed about sourcing chromium so we don't have to worry about rust. What about enchantments? Detect when the warp is running out and maybe fuse the new thread to the old? Stringing the warp itself? Motion magic maybe. What about carding and spinning?'

"Sorrel, Baby. Come back to us." Amelia interrupts my train of thought. "There you are. Come on, Cecil will be joining us for the trip to Sinclair's." She says with an amused smile.

"Sorry, babe." I blink as I come back to myself and then make the sheet of notes in my hand disappear along with the loom I just made a moment ago. "I got kinda caught up there... and, I kinda have to do it again. Would you mind taking the reins so I can get started on the sewing machine?"

"Heh, you and your puzzles." She pulls me down to her level for a quick kiss. "Now, to the clockmaker's."

"To the clockmaker's." Apricot takes up the cry.

"To the clockmaker's." I agree with a laugh.

Our trio of followers look at us funny, but pile into the carriage. Apricot and Amelia take the driver's seat, and the others sit with me in the back. They all look eager to see the sewing machine.

"Okay, what do we need here?" I ask myself while looking through my media collection for movies with sewing machines in them. "I'll leave the driveshaft to Sinclair, but he needs to know what it powers, so needle and tensioning arms, with the shuttle and feed dogs underneath. Not sure how the shuttle is going to work though, so that's going to take some experimenting."

The machine slowly takes form, fortunately, they're fairly popular as props in movies. I model mine after a mix of old singer style machines, adding in everything I can see. This includes the foot to hold the fabric in place along with a lever to lower it, the thread holder and tensioning plates, along with a bobbin winder.

"'Sew', what do you think?" I demonstrate the model for the Rem, Cecil, and Lauren. "I'm controlling everything magically right now, but I'm hoping Sinclair will be able to work out the innards."

"I think the clothing district is going to have a new favorite clockmaker." Rem laughs while Cecil and Lauren just look on in wonder as I stitch together a meter of fabric in just seconds.

"Remind me to slap Blanche the next time I see her." Cecil says dead serious. "I can't believe I almost turned you away just because of that... that word I shouldn't say."

"Heheheh." Apricot starts giggling. "I can think of a few that might fit her. But, it looks like we're here."

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