*sigh* Thanks a lot--I looked through Wonderland's store just to see her things & of course found the perfect dress for AN, which I can't have because I can't afford a new dress this year.

I have bought a few dresses on ebay from China and did not have any problems. The only times I was not quite happy with the dress was when I asked for long sleeves (to a dress that was originally with short sleeves) and received the dress that was originally on the picture (with short sleeves). I wrote an email to the seller explaining that it is quite cold at our rink and I would freeze wearing short sleeves. They checked my order, sent me email apologising and then sent me another dress (with long sleeves). They did not request the one with short sleeves to be sent back (I wonder whether the price of postage wouldn't be more expensive than the price of another dress).

Give them a chance. Send them email and tell them. I noticed most of the shops from China have a very high level of customers satisfaction (something like 98%) which makes me believe that they would do their best to avoid getting bad report.

Hi hanca - one of the requests that I made was to add sleeves on a dress.
Next time I'm going to request a longer skirt rather than the typical fs length.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I know a professional seamstress in Raleigh who's retired. If you want, I'll ask her if she could fix it.

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Last year, I went a bit overboard and bought 4 dresses from Wonderland0559 and the dresses are fantastic and of very high quality - I admit I spoiled myself because I lost 20 pounds. Over the past 12 years I have bought many dresses on ebay and overall have had pretty good luck. I did have a few that were bad, but a lot less than I expected to.

I bought two from China.

The first, they made my requested skirt modifications. The dress was too big (not too big to wear though), but if I want to fix it it's quicker/easier to take it in on the sides myself on my machine than ship it back.

The second I ordered, I got a size smaller. Fits perfect, the skirt is "normal" length--too short really for my preference though, not that it stops me from wearing it. I wish I would have requested a few inches to be added to the skirt but I did not. I'll still wear it, though. I think it just will take some getting used to, as I am more of a synchro skater/dancer and used to long skirts. I'm actually planning on wearing it for compulsory at NYI so y'all will have to let me know what you think

No complaints with regard to quality, workmanship, materials. I did ask them to leave their stones off on both dresses because I wanted to do that myself.

Not bad for cheap dresses...I still prefer Del Arbour but for a tighter budget, these do the trick.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I wrote them and they wrote a nice email back - they said they'll either remake the dress or refund my money, so hopefully they will follow through! I'll send it back to them this w/e. I figure they have a team of people making them, and I know it was the winter holidays over there, so they may have rushed it to get it out before Chinese New Year.

I think the dress needs so much work to be ready for easterns that I might as well wear my old - but definitely want to hear more about that seamstress!

__________________
Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

I have asked them to make made so many changes

Add the sleevs, make the dress to my exact measurements, make the skirt longer, once even to change the colour... I have been satisfied with their dresses. I like the fact that you can get something on budget and it still looks nice. And if you want to make it better, just add some more stones.

I had sleeves added to this one. They did a nice job. I'm hoping that since many of these dresses are being ordered by adults, there will be more shown with longer skirts.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gorgeous-Figure-...742.m153.l1262

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Little update - the seller returned my money already and I haven't returned the dress yet - so I'm pretty impressed by that! I will send the dress back to her today.

__________________
Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

That's great! Sorry you don't get to wear your new dress tho! One of the mom's at my daughter's rink ordered a dress from China and had a great experience. It was a beautiful dress! I've considered a dress from China, but I'm scared of getting a dress like you did.

As for the seller "Wonderland", I have to agree with everyone else who said that seller was a good risk. I have seen a couple of their dresses now and they are nice! I'm hoping I can find one from that seller for my daughter's artistic program in June.

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

Add me to the "wonderland" fan club. I have purchaced a few dresses from her for my daughter. I normally order the make to fit ones. She has also modified the bodice,etc. for me. The workmanship is beautiful.

I have also ordered dresses from china and received exactly what I have asked for/ordered and had no problem.

I will never buy dresses from a catalogue again! (No stores near me)

So glad to hear they refunded you quickly looplover!

These china sellers are quickly blanketing the below juvenile ranks. I think half the kids at Iowa games were in a dress I recognized with ebay. And I was very very happy to see that many of the "sexier" necklines had been modified with age appropriate short or long sleeves for the kids. The dresses all looked very good.

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I've been dress-shopping and came upon BEAUTIFUL dresses from eBay. Since I've only heard my music once so far (I'm going to ask for a copy so I can match a dress to it and put it on my MP3), I can't buy a dress just yet, but I've been looking around.
So, has anybody bought a dress from a China seller? The sellers in question are
lucktao2006
and
mlshop789 (it could be either an L or an i, not sure)

and the dresses in question are
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gorgeous-Figure-...#ht_2444wt_704
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lovely-and-Popul...#ht_3961wt_930

Is the size chart accurate? I fall right in the middle of Adult Small (except for the hips being an inch or two bigger than my hips) but if the fabric is 4 way stretch, I probably need to get the biggest Child's size because I'm only two or three inches bigger than the Child sizes.

Do the sequins ever fall off?

Is the mesh lined or opaque? (As in, can I put a bra underneath without it showing, or do I need to buy a nude/clear bra?)

Overall quality? It'd be great if somebody has bought one of those exact dresses and could tell me about it.

__________________
Right Brain: In the distant future, I will land all of the doubles.
Left Brain: HAHAHAHAHA
Left Brain: You can't even do a backspin.
Right Brain: ...

figurekb on YouTube.

I've bought from both and have had good luck and service. If you are in doubt about the size, send them your measurements. I have also asked for changes, like a longer skirt, different color and 3/4 sleeves.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I've bought from one (if not both) of them, I think all these people in China work together.

The lycra they use is a tad on the thin side, they line the front of the dresses but the lining itself is also pretty thin. It's not too big of a deal (I'm just used to my regular dressmaker's really nice, thick lycra), but the thinner material is very stretchy so go with the smaller size. My first dress was in my normal size and it's a tad big, the second one I bought is a size smaller and fits perfectly. You'd think buying from China the dresses would run small since their women are smaller, but that's not the case.

The nude material they use is on the light side. I'm not sure what your complexion is, it's fine if you're more fair/pale. It was lighter than what I prefer (I've got about a medium complexion, I guess), but I just darkened it a little by dabbig a wet teabag on it and letting it dry. The first time I wore the one dress (befrore I did this) was for a competition the last weekend of August, I was REALLY tan and it looked awful. They may have a darker mesh they can use if you need them to, just ask. I didn't know the shade of the material when I ordered my first dress (and 2nd dress didn't have any nude mesh).

I asked them to leave the stones off on both dresses I odered. I think their stones are cheap looking and I didn't like the arrangement on the dresses I was odering, so I bought my own and did it myself.

Other than that, the dresses are fine for what you pay for them. The stitching and everything is solid. The fit in the rear end is good, it has enough coverage. They're comfortable, they shipped quickly, and the sellers were very accomodating to requests (they also made skirts on both dresses longer at no extra charge).

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

All the girls at the rink where these china ebay dresses. (One even got the dress I'd been eyeing...grr)

I've never heard complaints, and more keep showing up, so the sellers must be doing something right.

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Sounds good.. I also did suspect that all of these people work together, since their dresses/presentation/size charts were all so similar.

I'm still not quite sure about getting the child size. My measurements are
Bust- 33 inch, Waist- 27, Hip- 32 1/2, Girth- 57
and the child's 16 measurements are Bust 29-32, Waist 24-27, Hip 32-35, and Girth 52-56.
So as you can see my waist and hips will still fit, but I'm an inch above Girth/Bust. Bust doesn't particularly concern me since I'm flat-ish for my age anyway and I'd rather that the dress be tight across there so I don't look like a nine year old but Girth does concern me since the last two dresses I grew out of, the girth area was the first area to get too tight. I don't know if I'll hit another growth spurt in the next three months either, but I don't want to wait until the last three weeks to get a dress.

I'll probably email one of the sellers and ask how far, exactly, their fabric stretches but can anyone get out their eBay dress and measure how many inches the maximum stretch is, and if the crotch is made out of the same stretchy material?

If the lining's too thin for me I'll just wear a white camisole underneath. I do have a fair complexion, but I also tan nicely. I'll just stay out of the sun for the next three months Since my legs are the first to tan (and they're already tanned), they'll be hidden by two layers of tights, I'll just have to keep my arms and back from tanning.

Oh, and what color/dress style/skirt length makes people look shorter/smaller? I want to make myself as small as possible since my Freeskate 2 competitors are most likely going to be 8 year olds half my size. When I had a Basic Skills comp last year I had to go out with two kids that only came up to my bellybutton, and after watching the tape back, it was very obvious how gangly and ungraceful I looked since I was standing next to little kids. I do feel like it might have hurt my scores. My bright pink hand-me-down dress and sparkly dance tights only accentuated my long legs and long torso- in a bad way.

__________________
Right Brain: In the distant future, I will land all of the doubles.
Left Brain: HAHAHAHAHA
Left Brain: You can't even do a backspin.
Right Brain: ...

figurekb on YouTube.

The big professional team that makes custom dresses in Beijing, yes, them. Will they change something on the dress if you ask? In my case I want to make half sleeves into 3/4 long sleeves. If they will do this, how do I go about asking them (do I message before auction end or do I just put it in the Paypal note along with my size), and do they charge extra?

__________________
Right Brain: In the distant future, I will land all of the doubles.
Left Brain: HAHAHAHAHA
Left Brain: You can't even do a backspin.
Right Brain: ...

figurekb on YouTube.

I am thinking of seeing if they will make a custom dress based of a sketch - not sure if I should be worried about them stealing the design and selling knock-offs on ebay. But I'll be in China this fall, and the excellent exchange rate and less shipping is an attractive option...