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But It Should Fit!

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  • #31
    Quoth FerrousBueller View Post
    "The Husband" is actually.. astonishingly nice. Like, the kind of nice where you want to pat his shoulder and go "Dude, you can do better than HER." Really, I think I could be friends with "The Husband" if it wasn't for his wife.
    Slightly off topic, but I have seen this a lot. One is super nice and the other is super mean, regardless of gender.

    Even if I could sew good enough to sell, I don't have the personality for it. People repeatedly complain about their seamstress to me. Not usually about the quality, about stupid stuff. Like price. Or how long they have to wait. Oh, my favorite is when they complain that the upholsterer told them to buy X amount of fabric, and "that's way too much!" Nice, ignore the professional who told you what to buy. I bet they offered to provide the fabric, but you said that it cost too much.
    Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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    • #32
      Quoth notalwaysright View Post
      Slightly off topic, but I have seen this a lot. One is super nice and the other is super mean, regardless of gender.
      I grew up two doors down from a couple just like that.
      I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

      Who is John Galt?
      -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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      • #33
        The "Mr. Nice" and "Mrs. Mean" trope even fits my parents. Not to nearly the same degree as the OP, but...

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        • #34
          I'd use the "Procrustian" method of dress-fitting.
          I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
          Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
          Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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          • #35
            Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
            Welcome to the forums, your skill set is impressive.

            Honestly, I've considered doing commission work but stories like yours scare me away every single time.
            Don't let that stop you if you are any good at what you do, just note how the OP did a fine job of CYA.

            By asking 75% up front you get rid of most of the scammers and cheapskates who leave you with an expensive job that you were not paid for. Even if this woman had walked away I am betting the OP only loss would be the waste of time and possibly making a profit on a different commission.

            Get a deposit, get a proper signed contract and take lots of photos if that will match with your work. You should do okay.

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            • #36
              Hello, welcome, great user name, pull up a death ray brochure... er, CHAIR, and relax.
              This was one of those times where my mouth says "have a nice day" but my brain says "go step on a Lego". - RegisterAce
              I can't make something magically appear to fulfill all your hopes and dreams. Believe me, if I could I'd be the first person I'd help. - Trixie

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              • #37
                Quoth FerrousBueller View Post
                Bead work, lace work, embroidery and... well, her entire figure had changed. There was no way this garment could be altered without being ridiculously obvious it had been altered. We could get creative, but there was just no way to be THAT creative without some-one calling Fudge Work. I explained this all as calmly as I could but the woman was getting more irate by the moment, yelling at me and insinuating that I'd measured "wrongly." That's the word she used. Wrongly.
                And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why weird stuff occasionally comes up in contracts, on warning labels, and in conversations with sales staff.

                FB's new contract language: "If I measure you, and you get cosmetic surgery, we'll have to start over, and that's not free."
                Me at Major Electronics Retailer: "The laptop you're buying is reasonably durable as long as you don't use it as a pillow like the last guy did."
                On a Box of Matches: "Warning: Flammable"

                Quoth FerrousBueller View Post
                "And if you tell anyone I had work done I'm... I'm.... I can't even right now!"
                "I can't even" is one of my new pet peeves. I get it if there are pauses in between like the speaker is trying to say something intelligent but can't due to some kind of brain meltdown. But when someone says, "I can't even," in the same tones as if saying "I can't cook" or "I can't sing," I get a little crazy. Overheard that phrase in the mall not long ago on a particularly stressful day for me, and I couldn't stop myself from bursting out with, "You can't even what!? Finish the sentence!" I scurried away after that.

                Quoth FerrousBueller View Post
                I think this is that defining moment where people in movies go "Okay! I'm going to be a super villain now! Bring me a death ray and a fluffy cat!"
                I suspect that... inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way.
                - Bill Watterson

                My co-workers: They're there when they need me.
                - IPF

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                • #38
                  Quoth Beowulf View Post
                  How did she think she'd be able to get that sort of change past you? ... And the fact that she was creeping on you during the measuring process...
                  Maybe the unsuccessful creeping is what led to the cosmetic surgery? That's why she didn't warn Ferrous in advance.

                  Seriously, I can kind of see someone hoping incremental changes get overlooked. Expecting radical changes to be overlooked by someone in the profession is typical SC logic. Cat-covering-up-on-linoleum syndrome is pretty common in computer repair as well. "Look dude, I ain't judgin', but I KNOW how that got on your machine. Go there again and it will happen again is all I'm saying."

                  FB, glad everything worked out on the $$$ front, cheers for Good Guy Husband. As I'm sure you've seen if you've done any lurking here, it doesn't fall that way every time.

                  Welcome aboard, etc. etc.

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                  • #39
                    Quoth FerrousBueller View Post
                    I've done costuming for years. I've done chainmaille, I've done leather working, I've done prop construction and I'm a trained blacksmith. I've done painting and carpentry and theater design and ... well, I've got a BFA so I pretty much take any job that will pay the bills.
                    I take my hat off to you Sir. That's an amazing skill set you have.

                    Which does make me beg the following question. Do you outfit cosplayers by any chance?

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                    • #40
                      Sounds like someone is in denial, so much denial that they're convinced they can deny the laws of physics themselves. In other words, your average customer.
                      - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                      • #41
                        Quoth Argabarga View Post
                        Sounds like someone is in denial, so much denial that they're convinced they can deny the laws of physics themselves. In other words, your average customer.
                        And that is why I stopped doing elizabethans for customers. I still make stuff for friends and family, but I will be arsed if I put up with some moron thinking I can simply pop 5000 seed pearls off and change the pattern to seashells or something. If you order an Armada gown, it is going to look like THIS. You will be getting a chemise, an undergown, an overgown with sleeves and by damned, it will be black velvet, and the rosettes on the white undergown will be alternating pearls and faux diamond rosettes, there will be pearls and pink bows, and I don't want any crap from the person who is paying me around $5000 and materials. I have my own sources, thanks, and all I need is for the customer to emulate a statue to b measured and fit. If you want something other than that, then order something other than that. I have a whole book of Liz's wardrobe contents and will be happy to sit and flip through hundreds and thousands of portraits until you decide ... but make up your damned mind and cope with it.

                        I personally would have called the husband and told him why I wasn't refunding anything for the parts of the job already finished, why I would not be taking a new order from the dizzy wife, and telling him that he can have the finished product and he can deal with his wife himself.
                        EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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                        • #42
                          Sweet fancy Moses but that lady is living in a dream world! That situation is so outrageous that I finally had to delurk to comment.

                          That said, I can actually understand someone thinking a boob job isn't going to make a big difference in the way clothes fit.

                          My bra size is 32G. I have a number of friends of various sizes and shapes who are in the A-B range and most really just don't get how radically D+ bosoms change things. If I had a dollar for every time I've been out shopping and someone has insisted that a blouse/dress/swimsuit would fit me and been confused when it doesn't, I'd be able to afford to buy custom garments instead of doing my own tailoring.

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                          • #43
                            Update on the fiasco: it's almost Halloween. The 2nd dress is almost finished but I was informed by The Husband that she slept with some-one and they're in the process of getting a divorce.

                            FML.

                            He paid for the first dress and I got 70% up front on the next dress but a police officer came by at 6 am to deliver a subpoena- she wants the dresses. Both of them. Even the one that doesn't fit. It's part of the divorce filings so I don't know if I should finish it or not, if I'm going to get paid the last 30%, what kind of dredges I'm going to go through with the legal proceedings as The Husband was paying for it and he said he no longer wants it to be finished.

                            I think this is the proverbial Straw. Has nothing to do with the money, it's more the time and emotional turmoil I've gone through. In all my years doing custom crafts, the only time I've ever felt more violated is when I did a beautifully tooled and crafted leather pair of wrist bracers to find out they were going to be used for BDSM and were worn while the wearers fists were in places that were, well.... just going to leave it at that. Places.

                            But this.... this makes me just feel... heinous. Vile. It makes me feel like climbing a tall building and flinging poo at passerby then beating on my chest and screaming profanity at small, innocent babies. I should mention, I'm normally a very mellow person. I crack jokes and smile a lot. Normally. Right now though, nothing would make me happier than to turn out all the lights, board up the windows and curl up around a copy of Val Kilmer's "Real Genius" and a bag of Riesens.

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                            • #44
                              =\ I'm sorry you got put in a sticky situation.

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                              • #45
                                What a mess. Do not do anything more to the dress. Write down everything you did and how long it took in case they try to get money back or not pay you. You can sue them if you need to. But try to take a deep breath. Have some chocolate or wine or both.

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