Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

[suel]

I have a roll of Malabar Indian Cotton which a customer has asked me to make a pair of curtains out of. It is a Malabar fabric and the label reads RATTAN MELOCOTON with a product code of RATT04. It is a peach colour plain heavy Indian cotton. Has anyone any experience of this particular fabric? I have taken it off the roll, and as expected there are some minor (acceptable I think) flaws due to the weave etc. However the whole length of the fabric has quite noticeable shading with horizonal weave and colour differences which I think is more down to this being purchased from a big outlet in London somewhere, where I think they do seconds. The clients son purchased it for him, and I assume he did so because it was cheap. I am not sure how to proceed with this. The client is paying good money for me to make these, and I am not entirely certain whether to proceed. He has a lovely brand new home and I would hate for him to be disappointed with his curtains (they are full length 6W triple pleat).

I have noticed this type of flaw on this type of fabric in the past, but it has generally been boldly striped or checked and it has not been that noticeable.

Your advice would be appreciated.

OMG I hate making up clients own fabric, if I was supplying it, a new roll would already be winging its way to me. This will be a gap of 2 days in my schedule if I have to delay, causing me a nightmare later in the month. Aaah!

Thanks - Sue.

Thanks,
Sue.

[Tam]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Personally, I would call your client and discuss it first. Although its down to the client, I wouldnt tempt fate in them causing problems later when you deliver her invoice, unless of course you have it written in your T&C's that you take no repsonsibilty for the quality of customers own fabric. I hope you added a surcharge into your quote either way

I do have this written in my T&C'S and it reads:

We cannot be held responsible for fabric flaws, if we cannot cut around them, then you will be notified.

Sue, If you do contact her it will ease your mind sooner rather than later.The thought of continuing with the order with the fear of later reprecussions would worry me more

Oh, how annoying though

[Schuhby]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Malabar have recently had a massive fabric sale, first by invitation only to account holders, they then opened to the general public. Could it be that she has bought the fabric from Malabar's £1 a metre sale? Sale was at their London offices.

Philip

[suel]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Thanks. I think I will phone him in the morning. I have an interlined roman to make tomorrow, so was not intending to start straight away. Yes I have a T & C which says "Where clients supply their own face fabric, it is assumed that sufficient fabric is supplied and that it is suitable for the purpose. Prior to cutting, the fabric will be inspected for obvious flaws, and if there are any defects found, work will not continue until the client has given their approval. No further responsibility can be taken should any subsequent problems occur or become apparent with the fabric".

I think my problem with this one is that it is not an obvious flaw, somewhere between an acceptable fluctuation due to it being a natural cloth etc. and being a [email protected]**y eyesore that would drive me mad in my own house.

Philip - this clients son lives in London and he is always buying cheap fabric, he had loads of different bits and pieces - all Malabar - so it could be from a seconds sale or old stock. (It smells a bit musty too).

Sue.

[suel]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

I phoned my customer who came round and agreed he did not want me to proceed. He was very sweet and thanked me for not blindly carrying on. B*@@er - this means I will have a day or so twiddling my thumbs! I can't afford that financially or otherwise at the moment - but he has taken some of my fabric books, so there may be some additional profit.

I do feel relieved I decided to ring him. Thanks for your advice.

Sue.

[Rosie]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Hello Sue,

I bet you're relieved you rang....I had a similar dilemma this week. Customer rang with fabric info. Stripe, no pattern repeat. She wanted me to ring her local shop to have the fabric posted direct to me. So, rang her shop, ordered fabric........ When it arrived it's a HORIZONTAL stripe NOT a VERTICAL stripe..... with a 12" pattern repeat! Anyway, amazingly, the drops work in but now I have a customer who thinks she's getting vertically striped curtains and blind for her kitchen. Anyway, I did ring her and happily, she was glad she had enough fabric so all is well. Phew!

[suel]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Oh no! Poor you... I have to admit quite a number of clients look at me blankly when I start talking about vertical or horizontal stripes!

Sue.

[suel]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Oh No!

My client duly ordered his fabric from me which I had delivered on an Overnight Service from Prestigious. It has a flaw running from one end of the roll to the other! I cannot believe this, I have ordered a replacement which will not be here until tomorrow. I only have one week left to finish all my work before Christmas. Hubby insisted I take an extra week off this year, as I am always in a flap working right up until the last minute, and everything was going fine until I started on this order. I have another pair of 8 width lined triple pleat curtains to make before the end of next week too, but the track fitter didn't fit until yesterday, so will not even be taking check measurements until this afternoon.

Even when I'm organised Christmas is always so far in the back of my mind - I never enjoy the build up to it. I thought it was going to be so different this year...hubby has a week off but I think he will be spending most of it on his own.

Sue.

[jane]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Just had an enquiry for 3 pairs interlined hand pleated curtains. Customer has already got 41m of fabric & lining. I've advised interlining as it's a very lightweight fabric so he's now talking about supplying the interlining as too.

As I usually supply the lining & interlining (and sometimes fabric too) I'm thinking of saying there will be surcharge to the making up costs if he also supplies the interlining. Is it reasonable to add a surcharge and if so, any suggestions how much?

[thecurtainmaker]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

Work out how much you are losing by not supplying the interlining and charge that. I think it is very acceptable to charge more for customer's own fabric - as well as losing some of your profit, you don't know what state the fabrics are in until you get them, and it may involve more work.

[YvonneR]

Re: Should I Proceed with Customers Own Fabric?

I always surcharge for customer own fabric. It always involves extra work in some shape or form.

Yvonne