To a T

For those of you who may not know this: I like clothes. To feed my clothing lust, here in Shanghai there's an amazing "tailor made just for you" building. Yes, that's right, an entire building full of small stalls of tailors and fabric to the ceilings and displays of everything from qipaos (traditional dresses) to coats to suits. The building has 3 floors and a basement and each one has probably at least 100 tailors touting their wares (that's 400 tailors!!). If you can dream it, someone can probably make it. On my first visit I was a kid at a petting zoo; I put my hands on every thing I saw -- beautiful silk and linen and cashmere fabrics, along side the synthetic and pleather fabrics, and the rows and rows of buttons and ribbon.

On my inaugural visit I ordered two things -- a silk dress and a linen shirt -- from two different tailors. Xiao Hu was with me on this visit and patiently helped me to negotiate and fully explain what I wanted made. The tailors told us to come back in 7 days to pick up the wares. I left a deposit and took a receipt, and 7 days later I came back to pick up my clothes. This time I went on my own, Chinese phrase book in hand. My first stop was for the dress, downstairs in the basement. When I stopped by the lady's stall, she looked at me, and I got the idea that the dress wasn't there, mostly because she pointed at tomorrow on her calendar. Did I mention that the tailors is a 30 minute bus ride, followed by a 20 minute walk from my house?

Turns out that the "tailors" and their stalls are in that petting zoo of a building, but the sewing machines are in a different location. Where? I have no idea, but it's no more than 10 minutes away cause the second lady said my shirt wasn't there but could be in 10 minutes. I wonder if there's an equally big building just 10 minutes away full of an equal number of sewing machines... or maybe there are just 10 people in the sewing machine local for the 400 tailors.

A few more attempts at picking up the silk dress ensued, and when I finally walked away with the dress I decided that the basement wasn't a place I'd frequent again. That lady was just a little too crazy and much too unhelpful. Live and learn.

On my next trip to the tailors (because yes, I did go back again, my love for clothes surpassed experience with the silk dress), I went to a stall that had come most highly recommended by a woman who has lived in Shanghai for 5 years. I figured that's a safe bet; she's had many clothes well made by this particular tailor (or whoever the person behind the sewing machine at this stall may be). I decided to order a qipao, and I was to come back in 3 days for a fitting. 3 days later I returned, the man pulls my qipao out of the bag...and it's the wrong fabric. No joke; the style is right, the size is right, it's beautifully made, but the fabric is not what I chose. Shoot. But! The nice man promised (in perfect English, thank goodness, because my Chinese wasn't cutting it) to have another qipao -- in the fabric I picked -- ready in 2 days. Plus, to make up for the error, he would throw in a scarf of the same (correct) material gratis. Alright, I said, see you in two days.

Two days later: one perfect, well fitted qipao in the right material was waiting for me at the tailor's stall when I arrived! Yippee! Woohoo!

I learned a few things from my trips to, and time at, the tailor:

1. an hour commute (one way) to the tailor's is not to be undergone lightly; it's best to call ahead and make sure the garment is ready before heading out the door. Also known as -- plan ahead!


2. tailors (along with others) who come with personal recommendation's are a solid bet. learn from someone else's mistakes!


3. the language barrier is a hard one to pole vault over when describing clothes. how do you mimic "soft ruffles" or "pleated"? i need to learn Chinese!


4. i still love having clothes made to order.