About the original Seamstress' Guild from the world of Terry Pratchett

Motto: NIL VOLVPTI, SINE LVCRE.

No pleasure, without pay.

An embarrassed or meaningful clearing of the throat is generally used while speaking the name of this guild. They call themselves seamstresses (hem, hem). There seem to be many Seamstresses in Ankh-Morpork, and yet bachelors or old widowers have difficulty when they try to find needlewomen who wield needles and threads to repair garments. Genuine ability with needle and thread and occassional mushroom is the province of Sandra Battye, who retains the most cordial relationship with the Guild while, strictly speaking, not practicing as a Seamstress in the accepted sense of the word. The seamstresses in the Seamstresses' Guild are, in the politically-correct language of the modern Ankh-Morpork, ladies of negotiable affection, ladies whose company and loving attention, crudely put, could be hired for a night. A survey of the Guild of Merchants in the docks area of Ankh-Morpork found 987 women who gave their profession as "seamstress" – and two needles (according to Men at Arms).

The Seamstresses' Guild does not have a formal school, most of the training being, so to speak, on the job. Some Seamstresses are based in houses of negotiable affection or, in older language, houses of ill-repute, although these houses are often highly spoken of. The head of the guild is Mrs. Rosemary Palm, "Mrs" indicating seniority rather than marital status. The guild enforcers are the Agony Aunts, Sadie and Dotsie, prim, silent old ladies who will always catch up with a client that has behaved badly toward the Seamstresses. A punished client who is able to complain to the City Watch afterwards is considered to have gotten off lightly. The Seamstresses regulate their own behaviours like other good guilds. For instance, the Guild prides itself that a customer may safely enjoy the services it provides, and will only end up battered, berefit of money and clothing, and otherwise ill-abused, in an alley in The Shades at midnight, if his personal tastes were to run that way. Any attempt to rob a customer might be viewed as provoking a demarcation dispute with the Thieves' Guild, and it is certain the Guild Council will not view this favourably at all. Therefore, if Dolores Smother was ever a Guild member, her working ethos, of drugging and robbing unwary Borogravian soldiers, would result at the very least in the revocation of her membership, and possibly the cancellation of additional privileges such as being able to breathe or walk without assistance. After all, the Guild prides itself on its tradition of negotiated hospitality and on the safety of clients who are going about the pursuit of their pleasures.

Text from Wiki.