IMGONNABE40!
<font color=green>Okay, I already am 40, but if I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 9,167
I had four suits that needed to be altered. The mom of one of my son's classmates has recently started a sewing business. Although she prefers more creative projects (last year she made covers for our tublas) I asked her to alter the suits. The pants needed to be hemmed, the sleeves needed to be shortened and I asked her to remove the beltloops. I do not socialize with this woman, although we do see each other at games since our sons are often on the same teams. We run into each other occasionally at parties. I feel badly for her since she is recently divorced due to the ex finding another woman. So, I wanted to give her the business.
She called to say the suits were ready. After dropping my son off at school, I went to her house to pick up the suits. She charged $200--8 hours labor at $25 per hour. A bit steep I thought, but I wanted to give her the business, so I said nothing. When I tried on one of the jackets, I noticed that the lining in the sleeves had not been tacked down and rolled up when I pulled my arm out. She said she did not want to tack them because the fabric was so fine (wool) that the tacking would show. She agreed to put a stitch or two in to keep the lining from rolling up every time I pulled my arm out. I paid her the $200 and left 3 of the 4 suits with her to have the sleeves stitched as discussed. One suit had already been tacked--she said the fabric was thicker--and I needed to wear it since I was on my way to work. She brought me the other three suits when we dropped our kids off at school this morning.
So, here is the problem. She did not remove the beltloops as I asked. I thought that if I mentioned that and she took back the suits, I would be charged an additional amount since she charged by the hour. I let it go figuring I could get out my seam ripper and try to do that on my own. The real problem is that the sleeves look terrible! And not where she put in the stitch or two to hold the lining in place. The are all puckered and look pretty bad. Almost like I did it myself.
So. What would you do? I already think I paid too much for this job. The alterations lady at our dry cleaner charges $8 to hem pants. I do not know what she would charge to shorten sleeves. Would you take the jackets to the alterations lady to fix (more $$)? Would you let the woman who did the work know that you were dissatisfied? If so, how would you approach the conversation? I am guessing that she already did the best she could.
She called to say the suits were ready. After dropping my son off at school, I went to her house to pick up the suits. She charged $200--8 hours labor at $25 per hour. A bit steep I thought, but I wanted to give her the business, so I said nothing. When I tried on one of the jackets, I noticed that the lining in the sleeves had not been tacked down and rolled up when I pulled my arm out. She said she did not want to tack them because the fabric was so fine (wool) that the tacking would show. She agreed to put a stitch or two in to keep the lining from rolling up every time I pulled my arm out. I paid her the $200 and left 3 of the 4 suits with her to have the sleeves stitched as discussed. One suit had already been tacked--she said the fabric was thicker--and I needed to wear it since I was on my way to work. She brought me the other three suits when we dropped our kids off at school this morning.
So, here is the problem. She did not remove the beltloops as I asked. I thought that if I mentioned that and she took back the suits, I would be charged an additional amount since she charged by the hour. I let it go figuring I could get out my seam ripper and try to do that on my own. The real problem is that the sleeves look terrible! And not where she put in the stitch or two to hold the lining in place. The are all puckered and look pretty bad. Almost like I did it myself.
So. What would you do? I already think I paid too much for this job. The alterations lady at our dry cleaner charges $8 to hem pants. I do not know what she would charge to shorten sleeves. Would you take the jackets to the alterations lady to fix (more $$)? Would you let the woman who did the work know that you were dissatisfied? If so, how would you approach the conversation? I am guessing that she already did the best she could.
