The Dressmaker

Back at Windswept Crescent, Mona cries and Lesley laughs about the dress mishap. Elsbeth announces sharply that Lesley and Mona will have to get married, which instantly sobers Lesley up. Lesley protests that he doesn’t want to get married, but Gertrude says that if they don’t, they will have to leave Dungatar.

Mona and Lesley have a quiet wedding, and William drives them to the station to set off on their honeymoon. They are booked into the Grand Suite hotel in Melbourne. They drop off their bags, and Lesley hurriedly offers to take Mona sightseeing. When they get back, the hotel owner has left a bottle of champagne in the room. Mona goes to change into her lingerie, which Tilly made for her. Lesley is almost sick in the bathroom while she is gone.

When Mona comes out, Lesley says the fabric of her new underwear is gorgeous and he quickly pours them both some champagne. Mona gets drunk and passes out, and Lesley wraps himself in Mona’s silk dressing gown to sleep. The next morning, Mona wakes up feeling sad and upset; she looks accusingly at Lesley. When Mona and Lesley get back to Dungatar, Elsbeth gives Mona her inheritance and tells her that it must go toward a cottage that she and Lesley will rent in town.

Faith makes up the posters for the Dungatar Ball and takes them into town. At the station, Hamish helps a woman off the train. She asks him when the next train back leaves and he replies that there is one the next day. The woman seems disappointed. She reluctantly gives her bags to Ed McSwiney, who drives her to the hotel on his cart. When she reaches the hotel, Fred shows her up to their best room and asks what brings her to town. The woman is very fashionably dressed. She replies that she thought the countryside might be relaxing, but now she does not seem so sure.

Fred leaves the woman alone and she smokes a cigarette and looks out of the window. She is astonished to see that the Dungatar women are all dressed very stylishly. Some of them are wearing fashions that she has only seen in designer collections in Europe. She wonders how on earth this has happened.

The Dungatar women stand around Faith’s poster and gossip. Beula says that ball is more expensive this year and that some people from Winyerp are coming. Nancy says that Tilly just received another package, and Sergeant Farrat joins them and says the package came from New York. He says that Tilly is making a beautiful dress for herself. Beula bitterly complains that Tilly saves all the nicest fabric for her own clothes.

In the bar, Purl waits to take the new guest’s dinner order. The woman looks dubiously at the menu and then asks Purl where she got her clothes. Purl explains that Tilly made them, and the woman asks where Tilly lives. After dinner, the woman goes to visit Tilly, and Tilly takes her measurements. The woman orders several outfits from Tilly and then offers her a job at her fashion company. Tilly says that she cannot leave Dungatar for the time being, and the woman leaves, impressed.

As the ball draws near, people are constantly going in and out of Tilly’s to order new clothes and accessories. Faith, Hamish, Reginald, and Bobby come to get fitted for new band outfits. Hamish puts on Tilly’s Billie Holiday record and comments that Holiday’s voice sounds like pain. Sergeant Farrat collects the garments from Tilly and finishes them at his house to help her with the workload.

Sergeant Farrat asks Tilly where she is seated at the ball, but Tilly says she isn’t going. Sergeant Farrat is horrified—who will wear the gorgeous red fabric that Tilly bought for herself? He says that she should go with Teddy, but Tilly dismisses this idea and goes on with her work.

In their new cottage, Lesley and Mona practice their waltz in the living room. Mona tries to kiss Lesley, but he pushes her away. Mona begins to cry, and Lesley desperately explains that he just cannot love her—he doesn’t know why. Mona asks if Lesley wants her to leave, but Lesley says that he has no one else in the world. His story about his rich family is a lie—his family is dead. Mona is amused by this since she is an outcast too, and the pair continues to dance together.