Ms D (Part 1)

(For purposes of this sharing, I am calling my client Ms D.)

Ms D and I had met at the Animal Hospital where I volunteer. She has cats, a dog and a horse. She is an elderly lady, very slender and speaks with an accent that is definitely ‘not’ Texan. I learned from the Doctor there that she was born in Egypt had worked many years at Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas. That one is the “original” one – the Flagship store.

I had done some minor alterations for one of the other girls at the clinic, and she asked if she could give my name and number to Ms D as she had some alterations she needed done. I said, “sure.”

Ms D called me. She had one new pair of jeans that needed to be shortened by 4”, a jacket that she dearly loved that the sleeves (outer and lining) were coming apart, and she had a long dress that she wanted shorted to tunic length. I agreed to go to her home (only about 5 miles from my house) and take a look.

I arrived at the agreed upon time and she brought out her things. The jacket was a nylon type quilted short jacket (think a skinny ski jacket). One sleeve was separated from the bodice from notch to notch on the outside as well as the lining. The other sleeve was just separated by about an inch on the immediate underarm, but the lining was frayed almost all the way around. She said she didn’t know why, but she dearly loved this jacket, but would understand if I was not able to fix it. She knew it was old and well worn. I told her I would take it and see what I could do with it. I took the assignment as a challenge!

The last item, the dress, was a short pile “fake fur animal print” with a Neiman Marcus tag (probably from the late 60’s or early 70’s. It was an A-line floor length gown with a zippered front with ½ inch beaded braid from floor to around the neck and back to the floor of the center. The beading was heavy and I was concerned about the beads unraveling when I cut it to shorten it. Hmm, I thought – another challenge. Again she said she would understand if I couldn’t do what she was asking, but knew she would wear the it again as a tunic, but not as a dress.

As I was walking out the door, she said, no hurry on the jacket and dress, but I like the jeans soon. No problem, I replied, I’ll have the jeans back to you in a couple of days.

(To be continued with the return of the jeans)