Today after work, I headed to Louise Austrie's, my seamstress, to get my bridesmaid dress altered. My bridesmaid dress has been a figurative thorn in my side lately as well.
Our dresses arrived about two and a half weeks ago. Aym picked them up and delivered mine to me at home that weekend. The following Tuesday, I brought it to Louise to have the top altered and the skirt hemmed. I trust Louise implicitly since she altered my wedding dress and I thought she did a fantastic job.
I put on my outfit for her and she attempted to straighten out the top. After fiddling with it and muttering, "What's going on here?" several times, she told me, "I think this top is defective." It turns out that the right side of the halter top is slightly larger than the left side, but the inside lining is symmetrical. The end result is that the left side is smooth like it should be, but the right side is completely puckered, since the lining is smaller than the outer layer. Louise told me, "I can fix this, but I'll have to remove all of the beads, cut the outside layer to the correct size, then sew all the beads back on. Because of all the labor involved, it'll cost probably about $200."
What the hell? That's more than the whole outfit itself cost!
Louise suggested I bring the top back to the place where I bought it, try it on for the store owner to show her the defects, and demand they overnight me a new one. I did as she suggested, but in a nice way, and luckily the store owner, Debra, at Dori Anne Veils, agreed completely with us that the top was defective, and got on the phone immediately with her vendor to have them send me a new top. However, even though they are "overnighting" me a new top, it is coming all the way from China, so the store owner warned me that it might not come in until the week of the wedding. Yikes!
Louise told me today when I brought the skirt back in for hemming, that as long as I get the top to her by the morning before the wedding, she can have it ready for me in time for the wedding, even though she'll need to shorten the halter straps a little, take the waist in, and let the hips out a little. However, she also told me, "If it comes in earlier than that, please bring it to me as soon as you get it!" I'm sincerely hoping that the top gets here before the Friday before the wedding. Seriously, I feel more worried about things related to Aym's wedding than I did for my own.
Anyway, I'm really lucky that I am working with nice, honest people, who are understanding and willing to be accommodating. However, this dress issue has forced me to do a lot of running around. So far I've had to make one extra trip to Louise's in Oakland (the first time she didn't take any measurements since she thought I should probably bring both the top and skirt back to Debra just in case the vendor needed them both to be sent back together) and two extra trips to Debra's in Castro Valley (the first time to show her the defects in the top, the second time to pick the skirt back up from her). Once the top comes in, I will need to go to Castro Valley again to pick it up, then bring it to Louise's to get fitted. After Louise alters it, then I will need to go to her place again to pick it up and try it on. Thank goodness I drive a Hybrid.
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