In all her books, Dorothy Whipple is marvellous on the subject of clothes. The two young, untutored, energetic but isolated sisters trapped in the grand, badly lit home of The Priory have virtually no money, so do their own dressmaking. They laugh at the 'drab dress' of the 'sheep' in their social circles and send off for patterns from the fashion papers, and sew in the nursery at the top of the house. But the end results always turn out slightly wrong; while they have a good eye for colour and find the conception exciting, they have little skill and the execution is disappointing. Nevertheless, the joint enterprise is an important creative outlet.