"I can't take this dress; you'll have to make me another," Mrs Ade yelled at me over the phone, and I began to think of all the effort I had put in place to make that dress a reality. Regardless, I might have to start all over again.
Sometime last year, my client introduced a friend of hers to me for me to make her a dress; her name was Mrs. Ade.
"Oh, I've heard about you and how well you sew, and I was convinced by the outfit Tayo wears to work," she said in a very mild tone on the phone, and that made my day so fulfilled.
"I won't be able to come in person for measurement as I have a tailor around who would help with the measurement; I'll just send them to you via WhatsApp first thing tomorrow morning. I hope you can work with it." Mrs. Ade suggested it, and I knew it wasn't a bad idea. "Yes, sure, ma'am, I can work with it."
I believed a tailor should always deliver an accurate measurement, so I didn't have a problem with the suggestions. Mrs Ade sent me money via my bank account for the fabrics and later sent in her measurements taken by the so-called tailor on my WhatsApp, and I was ready to grind.
I remember how I went to the market to source a suitable fabric for the style she chose and how I sent her countless pictures of the fabrics to be sure she was satisfied with the pattern, colour, and texture.
"It's perfect; I like the fabric; You can start the project." She spoke lightly on the phone, and so I began to cut the dress. It was a complicated style, but since she was a first-time client, I ensured to put in my best so that she'd call again.
I placed the fabric on my cutting table and started to cut the fabrics into various pieces using the measurements sent by Mrs Ade, after which I began to sew every piece together to make a beautiful dress.
"Hello, ma'am, your dress is ready," I excitedly informed her on the phone after I had finished making the dress. "Oh, okay, I'll send my driver to pick them up by the weekend." She too was excited to rock her new dress.
The weekend arrived, and the driver picked up the dress. Two hours later, I received a call from Mrs. Ade. I was in high spirits when I first picked up the call because I was hoping to hear a good review on the job done, but rather, Mrs Ade started ranting over the phone at how disappointed she was and how her dress couldn't fit.
I was so surprised at her complaint because I worked with the measurement she sent me, so I apologized to her to restore a peaceful conversation and pleaded that she create time to visit my office in person so that I could figure out what the problem was.
Two days later, she showed up at my office, and after taking her body measurements, I realized that the measurement she sent initially wasn't accurate. All my efforts to explain to her that the fault wasn't mine fell on deaf ears, and she still demanded a new dress.
So the journey began again; I had to start all over, from sourcing the fabric to cutting the complicated style and sewing the dress once again. It was a very annoying ordeal, but I had no other option because she was a first-time client, and you know what they say about customers always being right?
The encounter with Mrs Ade taught me a lesson, which was to never trust measurements from other tailors because, "Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." Carl Bard
All images used are mine.