Hoi An is famous for being the place to get clothes made in Vietnam and wow, it has a lot of tailors! However it does mean us poor tourists then have to run the gauntlet of trying to find a good one...
Our first try was a bit of a disaster. We'd thought we'd done things right - they showed us satisfied references, saw examples of their work but oh dear. I wanted a dress and blouse from them and they did all the measurements fine but when I went back for the first fitting the dress was all wrong. The bodice was very baggy and the skirt was too short but they said they would alter it, that's what fittings are for after all... When I went back they'd done the shoddiest adjustment for the skirt and made the bodice tight and loose in all the wrong places - I looked awful in it! They tried to tell me that it was because I'm a funny shape and they'd get it right next time... but we'd had enough. They might be able to sew but they couldn't tailor! With a very spirited argument we managed to get away.
It was then with some trepidation we went to a couple of different shops for a dress and a skirt. The experience was sooo different in both cases - the first fitting was almost right and everything was great the second time. No problems, arguments or stress. It was like that when I had some sandals made too. This place is a shoppers heaven (and it's really difficult to resist with quite that many shops...) and you can have anything made, the only problem is having to carry it so we were very restrained. Well, I was, Dave splashed out on 2 tie and cufflink sets...
Well, that's the clothes shopping over til Thailand!
Sarah
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