a good (alterations) woman is hard to find

For women, weddings are one of the few occasions that excuse and validate our inner pretty-princess and allow us to alter the way we look and feel, if only for a few hours, in our nicest dresses and tallest heels. They provide a brief evening of feeling pretty and delicate, wriggling out of our jeans and sweaters and reaching into the depths of our closets for that one under-worn piece that always makes us feel more … womanly. I find that this is easier for spring/summer weddings, and have more options in the way of wedding wear for the months between March and June.

This month I have two weddings, on back-to-back weekends, with two good friends who share spaces in the same social circle. This poses an extra challenge – not only do I have to find one dress that is weather-appropriate, I have to find two. And with the weddings so close together, there is no wearing the same dress twice. As I thought through the clothing in that section of my closet, I came up with two things. One of them is ready to wear, but the other was too large when I bought it and I have been too lazy to get it altered. It takes time, work, and maybe some wasted money to find a good place for alterations. In college I bought a forty-dollar dress for a formal, only to pay fifty dollars to have someone alter it – and by alter I mean take up the straps and shorten the hem. Needless to say, it can be a total rip-off.

I talked with a friend last night who recommended The Finishing Touch in Crestwood, which I was excited to hear because it is in the vicinity of my house. So today on my lunch break, I grabbed the dress from the closet (okay, okay – it was on the bed with the rest of my wardrobe) and drove the few miles to the shop. If I were going to judge the place based on appearance, I would have politely turned to go, claiming to have walked into the wrong storefront. It was a mess – clothing everywhere, threads arranged haphazardly on the wall, knick-knacks a-plenty. It didn’t look to be a quality establishment. I was greeted by an older Indian gentleman, who then proceeded to tell me about what he was watching on the television (which happened to be about the guy who faked his death and got caught). Feigning interest, I waited for the alterations lady to join me at the counter.

A shorter woman, probably mid-sixties, approached. When she reached the counter and began to speak, I noticed two glimmering, gold teeth right near the front. I was instantly distracted, and think I said something overly obvious, like, “Uh, I need to get this altered.” She showed me the way to the “fitting room,” which, to my great discomfort, was very near where the Indian gentleman was viewing the antique television, sitting in what I could now see was a wheelchair. The only thing between my half-naked self and his eyeballs was a thin, brown curtain. Making sure it was completely closed and keeping a close watch on it’s frilly edges, I changed quickly into my pink and black plaid dress.

I emerged from the dressing room in the dress and my knee-high trouser socks and waited for the woman to stop complaining about someone asking to use her telephone. The Indian man piped up and said, “Which church are you preaching at tonight?” Seeing my awkward smile and apparent look of confusion, he explained, “When I first came to this country I did not wear the jean much. I went into a store wearing a suit and the man asked me which church I was preaching at. I said, ‘I am not a preacher.’ But then later I knew he was making the joke.” Ohhh. Right.

Still complaining about the telephone, the woman came at me with straight pins, which is always unnerving, and she was making wheezing noises every time she exhaled. I considered offering her a chair for fear that she would fall over. After a few pins were in, I was free to change – again keeping a close eye on the curtain.

Six days and $25 will tell if the experience was worth it. If she’s good, I can look at those gold teeth again one day. A win-win situation, in my opinion.