Tag: houston

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The Curious Case of the Two-Dress Discount

It was an otherwise-normal day when I received the telephone call from the Valley Girl. (For purposes of this blog we’ll call her Minnie.)

After I got over my initial amusement of the über-Californian accent (and I’m sure she had the same reaction to my own Southern Lady drawl), I listened up as Minnie asked me if I could give her a discount on two wedding gowns that she needed for her nuptials that would need substantial alterations.

TWO wedding gowns? I thought. I didn’t express that out loud, but I have to confess I had to decline any offer of help, explaining that the gowns didn’t match each other, so trying to get them in sync with each other would take much longer than the timeframe she gave me, if ever at all. Additionally, I felt compelled to point out to Minnie that my skill set was very specialized, and as such I couldn’t offer a multiple-dress discount. We traded back and forth a few more questions and answers, then ended the conversation and hung up. I thought we were done.

And so we were, until about two weeks later, when she called back. I was only partially surprised; I figured she had called other seamstresses only to learn that most of them required a six-month lead time. In Minnie’s case, she needed the first dress within eight weeks – which is typically my own normal lead time – but the second dress she wouldn’t receive until two weeks before that second ceremony.

Believe me when I say that no one – NO ONE – worth their salt or price point offers alterations with such short notice.

As Valley Girlish as her voice was, her pleadings started to wear me down. I WANTED to help her, but felt the need to “keep it real.” I explained to her that my rate for the first dress would be at my normal amount, but the rate for the second dress would be twice that. She naturally had questions, and I answered her to the best of my abilities, which apparently satisfied her because she almost immediately set up an appointment for the first dress.

Now comes the part where the Singing Seamstress learns a Great Life Lesson: You can’t judge a book by its cover, and you can’t judge a bride by her accent. It seems that Minnie was Asian, and God help me but I couldn’t help but smile at her Valley voice coming out of her Singaporean mouth.

Minnie explained that her first ceremony was to take place in Singapore with her family, with the second “American” ceremony to happen shortly thereafter back here in Texas, hence her need for the two dresses. I’m well-traveled and well-versed enough to know that other cultures, such as her family’s, thrive on negotiation for goods and services; something that’s not the norm here in the gool ol’ U S of A. I reiterated my previously quoted rates and even followed them up with a text. Once she received the texted rates, she agreed and I got to work on the first dress.

If I may say so myself, that first dress came out fabulously and she happily paid the quoted rate for it. She even sent me photos of her and her new husband from that first ceremony.

Soon, however, in the seamstress/client sense of the phrase, the honeymoon was over. We met for our appointment to work on the second dress. I had printed out my standard contract sheet to present to her. To my surprise, she balked at the doubled rate we had previously discussed. Whether selective hearing or a breakdown in communication was involved, I don’t know. Fortunately, I still had the text I had sent her that included the doubled-rate quotation, and I whipped out my phone to show her.

She whipped out her own phone to show me the text that she had received from me, and at that moment we both learned Great Life Lesson Number 2: If you use Google Voice to send a text, don’t use more than one paragraph. Because I had sent my text in two paragraphs, and apparently Google Voice in times like this only sends the first one. And – OF COURSE – the part about the doubled rates was in the second paragraph. So we were both right and both wrong.

Deep down, it pained me to re-renegotiate the rate for her second dress. I’m a small business owner that caters to a niche market and every penny counts. For a brief moment, I entertained dark thoughts from my Evil Sith Lord side about sticking to my guns because I knew that no other seamstress would take her at such late notice. I had her in my grasp, but…

But, of course I couldn’t do that to her, nor to myself. We entered our final round of negotiations in good faith on both sides, which each walked away from the experience with warm feelings. And I learned Great Life Lesson Number 3: I can zealously guard my highly specialized skill sets against those who wish to underpay me, but sometimes a negotiation is just a meeting of two different cultures and not a slight against my own talents.

Until next time!

Heather

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It’s Gonna be All White

As a wedding gown designer, you can bet your bottom dollar that I know all about the color white. Without tooting my own horn too badly, I can assert that I am a veritable expert on whites, to the extent that I can rattle off quite a few shades of the color – yes, white has shades – including white, white smoke, snow, honeydew, mint cream, azure, Alice blue, ghost white, seashell, beige, old lace, floral white, ivory, antique white, linen, and lavender blush. And I won’t even go into the plethora of off-whites and their own shades.

(You Santas out there reading the blog, don’t worry; I’m equally well versed in the different hues of red, but that’s for another time.)

This topic came to me because – as you may or may not know – we recently had a death in the family, and for some odd reason I remembered that, for the longest time, white was the color of mourning, not celebration. You can most likely thank Queen Victoria for starting the trend when she wore a white lace and silk-satin gown when she married Prince Albert in 1840. The outrage it inspired was – according to reports – considerable, but that didn’t stop dozens, hundreds, then countless thousands brides from copying her in the following years.

I sometimes wonder what life for me as a seamstress might have been if Old Vicky had stuck with tradition and gone with a colored gown. It’s easy to envision a wedding industry turned on its ear due to the myriad of options in flowers, decorations, and even bridesmaids dresses when they’re not depending on the base, central color of white.

Actually, across the globe, colored wedding gowns are still en vogue. Chinese brides get to start off in a red gown – signifying the local color of joy and luck – then get a second ceremony in a white gown and then finally a third in a color of their choice. In Spain, they go for black gowns that signify staying with their husbands until death. Morrocan brides – for better or worse – wear bright yellow, a color that is supposed to scare away evil spirits and – presumably – traditional seamstresses. Koreans overlay their own white gowns in lime green, and in India the colors of the rainbow are fair game for a traditional wedding dress.

In closing, I also can’t help but wonder what kind of world it would be if we retained the color white as our traditional color of mourning. Step outside of real life and think of every movie that has a funeral scene with somber blacks and cloudy skies. Maybe, just maybe, the light and bright colors would instead help us through those dark times.

Until next time!

Heather

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‘Tackling’ My Latest Project

People love secrets. There’s something primally perfect when you’re privy to a situation and you have to stop yourself from chanting I know something youuuuuu don’t know… I know something youuuuuu don’t know… to those surrounding you.

That being said, I’m not being coy when I tell you about my new project and the fact that I can’t give you any names involved with it. Discretion is the better part of valor, and fear of litigation is the better part of discretion, and I’m nothing if not discrete. However, I CAN tell you that I am currently working on a special bridal gown project for someone who works for a very local, very major, professional football team.

The bride-to-be in question – let’s call her Fiona the Football Fan – works at this organization’s front office with the official title of “Administrative Assistant – Pro Personnel.” Here’s how I got involved in Fiona’s nuptial journey:

Fiona came across a bridal gown that was being sold by another bride who for some reason never wore it. Unfortunately, she bought it based on photos and description only – she didn’t have a chance to try it on before she purchased it. But the opportunity to purchase a $2,600 dress for only $600 was too much of a lure to pass up.

Almost inevitably, the dress didn’t fit properly when it was delivered. The top was the perfect size, but the hips of the dress were too narrow for the accompanying hips of Fiona. As you can see from this photo, the gown is in what we call a mermaid style. The more discerning eye can also tell from the photo that there was no way in hell there was enough fabric for me to let it out on the seam. Creative alternatives were immediately launched.

What I ended up doing was to first insert godets (official New Webster’s Dictionary definition for you non-sewers: a triangular piece of material inserted in a dress, shirt, or glove to make it flared or for ornamentation) in the side seams at the hip. Next, it was a veritable treasure hunt as I went searching for a reasonable match to the silver appliqué. Improvisation, thy name is Singing Seamstress, and I think the finished product conveys the impression that the gown was always meant to look that way.

So, gentle readers, sound off! What’s a shining example of YOUR improvisation skills at the sewing machine?

Until next time!

Heather

P.S. Now, don’t think that my TEXAN adventure is done with the completion of this gown. Apparently other members of this organization have HUDDLED together and have asked me to buy YARDS of fabric and do some costume work on a special member of their squad… no BULL! More details as I can give ’em. 😉

HTSS
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You Better Not Pout, You Better Not Cry… Santa’s Costuming is Nigh

Dateline: the middle of June in Houston.

Those of my readers who are reside in other more northern states or overseas might not fully appreciate this, but that means it’s summer in Texas. Which means bone-melting temperatures and soul-crushing humidity. I honestly can’t fathom how the West was won in the old days before the invention of air conditioning. If it had been me being directed to blaze that new frontier, all you would have seen of me was the cloud of dust my horse kicked up as we sped away to gentler climes in, say, Canada.

A certified, authentic, and genuine TEXAS SNOW GLOBE

As such, Christmas tends to be the last things on our minds in the Lone Star State in the summertime. However, if you’re planning on playing Santa or Mrs. Claus this year, believe it or not, NOW is the time to get your orders in for your costumes.

Even as a little girl, I could tell my true Santas apart from the wannabes every time I hit the malls. Fake beards aside, the sight of boot-tops camouflaging dress shoes or ill-fitting worn-thin polyester pants and jackets made my heart sink. Those were the times my parents would have to cover for the ersatz Santa with mumbled words about a too-busy Santa and his army of ‘helpers.’

On the other hand, nothing – and I mean NOTHING – put me in the Christmas spirit more than seeing a fully costumed and committed Kris Kringle, resplendent in beautiful costume from head to toe. It’s something that I’ve carried into my adulthood, and even was a driving force in deciding to specialize in custom Kringle costumes as a career.

Now, at the risk of gender generalization, I can’t think of a bride on the planet in her right mind who would first contact me or another dressmaker about designing and creating her wedding gown a month out from the ceremony. But men are masters of procrastination. It’s incredibly ingrained in their DNA to wait until the last minute. Don’t believe me? Next Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, check out how many guys are at the temporary florist tent set up in the nearest Kroger parking lot.

I feel like a true Grinch when November rolls around and I have to turn down job offers from well-meaning men wanting to spread a little personalized Christmas cheer. Not only are they too late, they are WAY THE HECK too late. Unless you want to grab a cheapo getup from the local costume store, you’re going to need to leave months for a professional job to be done on your own outfit.

Like any self-respecting seamstress – singing or otherwise – I take pride in my work. From my days of working as a costumer in community theatre, there was a recurring joke/not joke when it came to providing custom clothing for the actors: Good, Fast, or Cheap. Pick any one. Crafting a worthy costume takes time; fittings take time, confirming the client’s vision and desires takes time, meticulously planning and creating with the proper materials takes time.

In short, gents, if you’re wanting to look like a worthy Santa this festive season, NOW is the time to get in touch with me, because I can guarantee you it will take the summer and autumn to provide you with a costume that you and I could both be proud of.

However, I can promise you; it’s worth the wait.

Until next time!

Heather

P.S. SPEAKING OF TEXAS…

I simply HAD to include this little story. There is an amazing Fort Worth, Texas artist named Jack Sorenson. Check out his website and be sure to ‘like’ his Facebook page! His paintings of Texas life – past and present – enthrall many an art lover, including Houston-area seasonal Santa David Applegate.

Original Artwork by Jack Sorenson

David contacted both me and Jack to see if we could craft a costume based on the above painting. If you know me, you know I never shirk from a challenge (in fact, have you ever encountered ANYONE who admits they DO shirt challenges? But I digress.) and once I was given the green light I was proud to use the paining as a template and provide David a real-life version of it, just like this:

If YOU have any special design needs, or even a vision of a special-made-to-order Santa costume, drop me a line! Just be sure to do it soon… and beat the holiday rush.

HTSS

Until next time Dear Readers, may all your bobbins be full and all your seams be straight.Heather