When I was 20, I bought a suit, shirt and tie at a small men’s specialty shop. I need the outfit for my friend’s wedding. The shop included free tailoring so they hemmed the pants, and custom fitted the jacket and shirt for me. I wore that outfit many times over the next few years to weddings, parties, nightclubs, dates and events because it fit me perfectly and looked fantastic.
As much as I loved having a shirt that fit me perfectly, I never had this done again. I just bought clothes off the rack and tucked them, bloused them, rolled up the sleeves or whatever to make them fit.
But, after completing my latest purge in early 2024, I made a decision not to own any clothes that I absolutely didn’t love and wear frequently.
One item that annoyed me was my Marmot Fleece pullover. It fit perfectly, feel good and looked great except the sleeves were to long and had to be rolled up. I didn’t want to shorten the sleeves myself because I’d done this with a half dozen fleece pullovers and every time, they looked like sh!t. My hems weren’t straight. I’d use the wrong stitch. The sleeve weren’t even. The finished result looked sloppy.
So I took the fleece to a local tailer to have the cuffs shortened. And while she was measuring the length, I asked her to make the sleeves a little tighter too so that the new cuffs fit close to my wrists.
A week later, I picked up my tailored fleece. It was perfect. Total cost $20.
A few weeks later, I took a pair of pants I no longer wore to the tailor. I wished they fit better like a newer version I was currently wearing all the time. So I took them to the tailor, along with the newer pair that fit great and asked if she could narrow the legs of the old pair so that they fit like the new ones.
She could and did. A few days and $16 later I have another pair of perfectly fitted pants to add to my rotation.
I could have tried to do this myself, but I know the results would have been a disaster. Having a professional do it, resulted in pants that you cannot even tell were altered.
I’m OK at sewing. I can patch a hole, fix a hem and mend small items. But my skills end there. If I really want an item to be straight, matched, aligned and neat, I will rely on the professionals.
I am in awe of their workmanship.