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The key is in the details.
Oct. 17th, 2002 11:19 amYaoi-con is now only a day away. It's still a bit odd to think that in a few hours I will be taking a flight to San Francisco for an anime convention. I mean, it was not two years ago that this was the stuff of dreams, and laments like, ::whines:: "Oh, how I wish I could go to Anime Expo, but there's no way I could possibly afford all the expenses... not to mention the airfare!" And where does that leave me now? Four cons under my belt for this year alone, another one on the way -- and all the way across the country, no less.
News about our costumes: for the past two months, we've received the coats three times (Aya's TV trench and Youji's OVA trench). The first time, they were waaaaaay too big. We think that the girl (Annie) must have thought we'd only measured halfway around our bodies, so she must have doubled the measurement when she was cutting the fabric. (Take a look: Liz and Angelica fit into the Youji coat!) And then, the fabric itself was a problem; it was a sort of shiny black satiny fabric -- completely inappropriate for Aya and Youji's coats. I mean, I know they're a little flashier than your normal, everyday assassins, and most probably a little more baka, but really. I have yet to see them go around in sparkly black coats. (Only really bright, eye-catching, white ones.)
So, we sent the coats back and Annie (or rather, her mother, who's a professional seamstress) re-did the coats in a matte black light cotton material. Not as heavy as I would've preferred, but much better than that shiny black satin joke. Except this time, she made the coats a tiny bit too tight. They weren't horrible, but they definitely didn't fit right. So we sent them back again. This time, it was cutting it pretty close. There were only about 2 weeks left before the con. And this time when she emailed us, she was quite rude -- blaming the improper fit on our supposedly incorrect measurements. Which is completely ridiculous, especially considering that the measurements not only were correct, but that they were the same exact measurement as the firt time around, when they were made way too big!
We'd also had a problem with the accessories on Aya's coat. Let me be blunt. They looked weird an dhorrible when they were attached to the coat the first time. So when she re-did the coats, I asked her to leave the accessories unattached so that I could attach them myself. Well she did, so that's a good thing.
We finally received the coats on Tuesday and tried them on... they were packaged inside a priority mail bag that had written on it something to the effect of, "We added the extra material, if they're still too big, at least you can pin it. This will be the last and final adjustment of the coats. If you need them readjusted, you'll just have to go to someone else." In addition to the several times she said it in her emails, she also wrote on the package that she would obviously not accept them back for readjustment... as if we had any time left to send them back, anyway, with the con only a few days later. I would understand if it was our fault in taking measurements. But it was obviously not!
So we tried them on... apparently, Annie added length to Youji's coat when we told her that the length was fine. She was only supposed to add a little bit to the collar because it was too tight. She did that, but she also replaced the black zipper with a silver zipper that was completely horrible (Youji's coat is all black). Then on my coat, she added the length that I needed, but she made it way too long (in 3" platforms, the coat still touched the floor)! Also, she had made Aya's coat tapered from the waist down, which, if you've seen Aya's coat, is not tapered at all; in fact, it flares out quite a bit! She had added material to make it flare a bit, but it didn't quite do the job and it just made the top part of the coat tent out on me. You can't imagine how upset I am over getting such a badly made coat (with unneccesary rudeness) for almost $200! I don't even spend $200 on my own freaking winter coat, much less a badly-made costume!!!
::calms down:: But I've resigned myself to it; there's nothing I can do about it, after all. I have the biggest urge to throw it in the garbage, just to have the satisfaction of throwing it out, but that's $200 down the drain and I couldn't do it.
Luckily, Angelica's grandmother can sew, so we brough the coats to her and she did a few adjustments. She shortened Youji's coat and put a flap over the zipper so you can't see it; she shortened Aya's coat and took it in a bit so that it didn't seem too big. But it still doesn't look too good, so I'm going to have to wear it left open. Luckily, I'd bought a v-neck shirt with white piping on the collar a few weeks ago -- so I'll still be recognizable as Aya. Hopefully.
This really sucks.
I've decided to do my own costumes from now on. I'm going to start looking for patterns with which to make next year's costumes. Or if I can't and I have to find someone else, I think we'll end up going back to the first person we asked (who did a great job on the fit, but who used a material we didn't like too much), and ask specifically for the material we're looking for.
But I'd much rather do it myself. I've been wanting to for the last year or two anyway, but there was no time...
But getting onto a lighter topic, Yvette (my boss at GCS -- oh hey, I have two pics of her: one in a kids' Batman costume, and the other on a day where she was dressed all sporty for the gym). Anyway, Yvette is really cool for giving us money for our trip. The reason she's being so nice is 'cause they can't afford to give us a raise, but the "bonuses" she's given us instead ($100 for Yaoicon, $90 for Otakon) have been really helpful.
So I have about $400 saved up for the con. This is over the course of about 5 to 6 months. Not much, I know, but my paycheck isn't all that much either, and one has to eat, and pay for school books.
News about our costumes: for the past two months, we've received the coats three times (Aya's TV trench and Youji's OVA trench). The first time, they were waaaaaay too big. We think that the girl (Annie) must have thought we'd only measured halfway around our bodies, so she must have doubled the measurement when she was cutting the fabric. (Take a look: Liz and Angelica fit into the Youji coat!) And then, the fabric itself was a problem; it was a sort of shiny black satiny fabric -- completely inappropriate for Aya and Youji's coats. I mean, I know they're a little flashier than your normal, everyday assassins, and most probably a little more baka, but really. I have yet to see them go around in sparkly black coats. (Only really bright, eye-catching, white ones.)
So, we sent the coats back and Annie (or rather, her mother, who's a professional seamstress) re-did the coats in a matte black light cotton material. Not as heavy as I would've preferred, but much better than that shiny black satin joke. Except this time, she made the coats a tiny bit too tight. They weren't horrible, but they definitely didn't fit right. So we sent them back again. This time, it was cutting it pretty close. There were only about 2 weeks left before the con. And this time when she emailed us, she was quite rude -- blaming the improper fit on our supposedly incorrect measurements. Which is completely ridiculous, especially considering that the measurements not only were correct, but that they were the same exact measurement as the firt time around, when they were made way too big!
We'd also had a problem with the accessories on Aya's coat. Let me be blunt. They looked weird an dhorrible when they were attached to the coat the first time. So when she re-did the coats, I asked her to leave the accessories unattached so that I could attach them myself. Well she did, so that's a good thing.
We finally received the coats on Tuesday and tried them on... they were packaged inside a priority mail bag that had written on it something to the effect of, "We added the extra material, if they're still too big, at least you can pin it. This will be the last and final adjustment of the coats. If you need them readjusted, you'll just have to go to someone else." In addition to the several times she said it in her emails, she also wrote on the package that she would obviously not accept them back for readjustment... as if we had any time left to send them back, anyway, with the con only a few days later. I would understand if it was our fault in taking measurements. But it was obviously not!
So we tried them on... apparently, Annie added length to Youji's coat when we told her that the length was fine. She was only supposed to add a little bit to the collar because it was too tight. She did that, but she also replaced the black zipper with a silver zipper that was completely horrible (Youji's coat is all black). Then on my coat, she added the length that I needed, but she made it way too long (in 3" platforms, the coat still touched the floor)! Also, she had made Aya's coat tapered from the waist down, which, if you've seen Aya's coat, is not tapered at all; in fact, it flares out quite a bit! She had added material to make it flare a bit, but it didn't quite do the job and it just made the top part of the coat tent out on me. You can't imagine how upset I am over getting such a badly made coat (with unneccesary rudeness) for almost $200! I don't even spend $200 on my own freaking winter coat, much less a badly-made costume!!!
::calms down:: But I've resigned myself to it; there's nothing I can do about it, after all. I have the biggest urge to throw it in the garbage, just to have the satisfaction of throwing it out, but that's $200 down the drain and I couldn't do it.
Luckily, Angelica's grandmother can sew, so we brough the coats to her and she did a few adjustments. She shortened Youji's coat and put a flap over the zipper so you can't see it; she shortened Aya's coat and took it in a bit so that it didn't seem too big. But it still doesn't look too good, so I'm going to have to wear it left open. Luckily, I'd bought a v-neck shirt with white piping on the collar a few weeks ago -- so I'll still be recognizable as Aya. Hopefully.
This really sucks.
I've decided to do my own costumes from now on. I'm going to start looking for patterns with which to make next year's costumes. Or if I can't and I have to find someone else, I think we'll end up going back to the first person we asked (who did a great job on the fit, but who used a material we didn't like too much), and ask specifically for the material we're looking for.
But I'd much rather do it myself. I've been wanting to for the last year or two anyway, but there was no time...
But getting onto a lighter topic, Yvette (my boss at GCS -- oh hey, I have two pics of her: one in a kids' Batman costume, and the other on a day where she was dressed all sporty for the gym). Anyway, Yvette is really cool for giving us money for our trip. The reason she's being so nice is 'cause they can't afford to give us a raise, but the "bonuses" she's given us instead ($100 for Yaoicon, $90 for Otakon) have been really helpful.
So I have about $400 saved up for the con. This is over the course of about 5 to 6 months. Not much, I know, but my paycheck isn't all that much either, and one has to eat, and pay for school books.
