Thank you, @theinkwell team, and happy new year!
You bring up some good questions that I asked myself and then decided not to add the answer for the sake of brevity and laziness 😌
For the first question, my idea was that Aida and the princess were roughly the same age and figure. So the mother, who is a brilliant seamstress, already knew this from prior interaction with the princess. This would've been great to add because it would have emphasized Aida's 'princess-like' qualities too.
For the second question, I did not have a definitive answer in my own mind. One idea that came to mind is that the prince sighted Aida somehow through her mother's work with the royal house. Aida herself does not seem to be as keen on dressmaking as her mother, so she was likely unaware of the business transactions with the secretive royals. This leads to another question, why did the queen send her son to pick up the outfits and not a servant? Perhaps the prince insisted on doing so for his own purposes (chiefly to woo the unsuspecting girl). As I mentioned, I did not have a clear answer. So, rather than get tied up in knots (or stitches), I left it out. :D Adding a sentence or two would've cleared up some matters but hangovers happen :(
Your comment makes perfect sense, and when I spruce this story up later, I'll make sure to add these details. Thank you! 🖊