As y’all know, I have been working on a wedding jacket for my colleague Elena. As it happens, her officemate, Kristen, is going to attend her brother’s wedding this June, and needs a nice dress in navy blue (color dictated by her future sister-in-law and difficult to find in Korea). She asked me to help her get a dress made, since ordering from overseas is risky both size-wise and price-wise.

As a result, I took them out shopping at Tongdaemun market yesterday when we had a day off (it’s exam week). Our goal was to buy the fabric for Kristen’s dress and to get swatches to match up with Elena’s dress, which arrived from Albuquerque.

So we set off, full of high hopes for a full day ahead. We wandered the maze of stalls trying to find exactly what we’re looking for amongst the gajillion types, shades, textures and patterns available. Due to the number of things we were looking for, I had to tune out the conversation the two of them were having about glittery corn fabrics (don’t make me explain it!) and make sure we didn’t lose each other (it’s 100 times worse than a mall, airport, or anywhere else confusing and huge you can think of).

After a couple of hours we found EXACTLY the fabric Kristen was looking for and I found the swatches I wanted for Elena’s jacket. She also made a decision on the long jacket I designed! (The commitment is the hardest part of the whole process).

So far, so good. We took a break for lunch, then hit Doota Tower, where the entire fourth floor is devoted to shoes and bags. We found some “almost” shoes, but no “gotta have” shoes.

The next stop would be to the seamstress at the smaller Tongdaemun market that I was hoping would make their outfits. Snag was, I didn’t have her exact location/number, so I called my friend who had promised to get it for me. She, however, seemed a little confused, thinking I wanted to have a wedding dress made, not a dress to wear to a wedding, so she insisted the seamstresses at Wedding Dress Row (a street near Ewha university lined with wedding dress shops) would be better. Since I didn’t have the info, I had to follow her directive.

We went to her shop, where she informed us that, actually, we couldn’t do it that day because the wedding shops are all closed on Tuesdays. BUT, she called her friend who owned one of the shops and lived nearby. So her friend showed up, took a look at the fabric and photo, shook her head and proceeded to tell us it would be difficult, the fabric was wrong and since it’s an “unusual pattern” compared to wedding dresses, it would be $150 to make it up. Confident, she did not sound. And it was just a cowl neck halter with an a-line skirt and low waist,  so there are no zippers, boning, or anything complex except that it has to be cut on a bias.

Then she proceeded to tell us we should go to Tongdaemun instead.

So my friend called the Tongdaemun woman, who sight unseen told us it would be $300, but that she’d do it for the same ($150) because they’re friends.

Well, none of that set well with Kristen or I since neither one of them sounded like they were confident about making it. $150 is fine if you know you’re getting a great quality product, but not if you could get ill-made stuff.

But I need to point out we have not hit the disaster yet.

We went back to my house to match up the swatches with the dress, which is hung in my closet for safe-keeping. We found the exact shades we wanted, so we were really happy. Then Elena tried on the dress to give us the full effect.

IT DIDN’T FIT.

Not in a “I had to much pasta last week” way, but in a “it won’t zip the last three inches and there’s a three  inch gap where it should meet” kind of way. We have photos of her wearing the dress just two months before this and it fit with room to spare. She’s been exercising trying to lose some additional weight, so she hasn’t added any on. It was also at least two inches shorter than in the other picture.

The dry cleaner shrunk the dress.

We manipulated her breasts in every possible configuration, but that zipper was not going to meet. And if you’re not overweight to begin with, you can’t lose 3 inches of weight in your ribcage.

Elena is FAR from a bridezilla, but this dress is really the only part of the wedding she cares about, so she was understandably upset. Now instead of a great size 8 dress that needed a few alterations and a jacket, she has a size 6 dress that will need to be sold to pay for the one she has to replace, and she has to find it in Korea, land of the size 0s.

So the jacket is now cancelled, and we’re going to be making the rounds of the wedding dress shops here in the foreseeable future to see if we can get one made for her at an affordable price. She only has about a week between getting back to the States next winter and the wedding, so we need to get it done here. The one blessing out of all this is that we found out now instead of in December when it would be too late to do anything about it.

In between the numerous trips and negotiations this will take, I’ll be attempting to make up a pattern for Kristen’s dress (it is NOT the wrong fabric, by the way, it’s just not shiny bridesmaid fabric, which is throwing people off). If I think I’m confident about making it myself I will, but if we have it made there will be a pattern to follow. Worst case scenario, I got some extra practice and another outfit for my well-dressed asymmetrical mannequin.

Till next time, happy sewing!