The Vestments Hate Me
When I got this phone call, I was in Florida sitting about 10 feet from the beach drinking a cocktail and having lunch with new friends at a stewardship conference. Needless to say, I was in a pretty good mood. The Wippell sales rep explained that they had indeed fixed the collar on my alb, but that somewhere between packing and shipping they had lost it. Apparently they had spent weeks searching for it, but they just couldn’t find it. Sigh. In any case, Wippell was willing to make me an entirely new alb, based on my measurements, for just $30 more. Since I’d gotten such a great deal on the alb, and I was in such a great mood with my cocktail by the ocean, I said, “Sure.”
Weeks passed and during our winter break in January my new alb arrived. I was so excited. I tore open the packaging, pulled it out, put it on and discovered that it was all wrong. It was about 2 inches too short, the sleeves were also too short, it was too tight around my shoulders, and it didn’t seem to hang straight. It was just a mess from head-to-toe. I immediately called the student who is our representative to Wippell and showed the fit to him and he was as disappointed as I was. When the Wippell sales rep returned at the beginning of the semester we showed it to him and he was annoyed that they had made such a mess of the new one. He retook my measurements and said that a new alb would come soon.
The new alb came last week. For the most part, it is really wonderful. The length is just right. It fits around me perfectly. Unfortunately, however, the sleeves are so long that they go past my knuckles. Basically, they are about 2 inches too long. I looked at the sleeve, hoping it would be an easy alteration - like pants where you just change the hem. But, no. The sleeves have a pretty elaborate cuff that requires removing the cuff, cutting the fabric underneath, then putting the cuff back in place. Oy.
As you can imagine, I’m reluctant to send the alb back to England - that hasn’t really worked out for me too well. I suppose that I’ll just have the cuffs altered here and hope that maybe Wippell will be willing to pay for at least a portion of the alteration. I’m beginning to wonder if I didn’t make my decision too hastily, just because it was on sale. Either that, or the vestments just hate me. You know how copy machines and printers can tell when you are stressed and give you the proportional amount of trouble as related to your stress? Well, I have a feeling the vestments can tell that I don’t like them and are giving me the proportional amount of trouble in return.
Still, including the extra I paid to have the collar fixed and the bit more I paid after they lost it, I’ve still gotten quite a deal on an alb from Wippell. It really is a nice alb and the fabric is wonderful. I ironed it last night, then threw it over my arm this morning, draped it sloppily over the cab seat on my way to church this morning and it still looked pressed and nice for church. You can’t go wrong with that.
