Inspired by this clothing thread by MissMossie, I thought I’d see if we have any tailors or sewing type folks here OR people who’ve had some experience using tailors.
I’m short. Like a tiny bit more than five feet tall. The only time I’ve used a tailor was to have things shortened. That was a fairly easy transaction and pretty straight forward.
While looking for dress suggestions for the other thread, I found a dress that I think is ADORABLE and quite inexpensive. The problem? The stock left isn’t in my size by about four sizes. So, having no idea about such things, I’m wondering if it is feasible to take a dress in that much without messing it up too much? According to their size chart, I would need to take it in about 3" at the bust and about 4 1/2" at the waist. With the cut of the dress and the gatherings, I’m not sure the hips would be an issue, but if so it would need to come in about 4" as well.
So really, I guess I’m asking about this particular dress (if anyone can tell by the pic) and about clothes in the future. This particular dress is really inexpensive so I suppose if it doesn’t work that’s okay, but sometimes I’ll find a gorgeous dress on sale but still somewhat expensive that is not in my size. As a rule, is there a limit on how much something can be taken in, or does it really not matter? Or does it really depend on the material, cut, and style?
Even if you’re not a clothing specialist, I’m interested to hear from people who’ve taken items for alterations and what experiences you’ve had. All data is helpful.
I’m totally not a tailor, but as another just-over-5’ person, I think one other problem you could have with that dress would be the size of the skirt. I’m not sure if you meant this when you said the waist would be taken in, but that skirt in several sizes too large would probably be very billowy.
I was recently trying on bridesmaid dresses, which usually come in sample sizes that swim on me, and the straps were often very badly misplaced. Like, wide straps doubling as cap sleeves misplaced. You could find that the straps were kind of sitting under your arms.
For a low price I would definitely try it, though.
My experience in having things tailored would suggest that what you want to do isn’t that feasible. I once had a bridesmaid dress made in one city (the bride’s hometown) and shipped to me in a different city. The person taking my measurements must have been on crack, because the dress was about 3-4 sizes too big.
I took it to a seamstress, who basically had to take apart and remake the dress (at considerable expense to me). It still didn’t look right in the end.
I’ve also had a couple of suits altered to a smaller size when I lost weight. I was told that it really only makes sense to tailor it when you’re reducing it one, or maybe two, sizes. Anything beyond that becomes costly and the results aren’t that great.
I’ve had quite a few tailors, and in the end they can do anything- it just depends on how much you are willing to pay. I’d say a dress like that would be just as easy for a tailor to whip up from scratch than alter. But I’ve always had dirt cheap tailors and have no idea what that sort of thing would cost in America.
Thanks for the responses so far. I do worry about the poofy aspect of the skirt being too much. Oh well, it’s only $39 so I think I’ll order it and just take it to a tailor to see what they say. If they think it’s just no dice then I’ll donate it to one of those charities that collects clothes for women to wear to work.
If they think they can do it for a reasonable cost, they can try.
Basically what I’m getting is that if it’s just a size or so off, it can probably be fixed but more than that… forget it.
It’s almost a given that it will cost more than this to have the dress tailored, but it might cost her just as much to procure the fabric (assuming that it is good quality textile). As even sven says, a good tailor can do pretty much anything as long as enough fabric is available. The issue is the cost; for what the o.p. is asking, it will be essentially resewing the entire dress. However, for people whose body shapes deviate from the 75th percentile, bespoke clothing from a reasonable tailor is probably cheaper, and will almost certainly fit better than trying to tailor off-the-rack clothing to fit.
I’ve never taken anything to a tailor, so I can’t help with that, but I was going to suggest that if you have any interest in sewing (or bringing a pattern to a tailor for bespoke garments) you might check out New Look 6723–I’ve had my eye on this pattern, and the lines look very similar to your dress.
That’s a lovely dress! The big problem with it is that the shoulders are already wide. To bring them in, the tailor will have to make a seam down the front of the bodice, which will alter the look of the dress.
Between the gathering at the skirt and Weedy’s sharp eye about the shoulders, I think I’ll skip that particular dress and find some beautiful fabric for the pattern that tiltypig posted!
Alterations bigger than 2 inches won’t work well. You’d have to recut and resew the dress. In which case, you might just as well find a good seamstress, show her the picture and ask her to make something in that style that fits you to measure.
I sympathize. My wife is about your size and even in Japan she’s on the small side. When she was living in the US for a few years at university she sometimes had to buy clothes from the kids department. We’ll probably either have to find a good seamstress or tailor or she might end up polishing up her rusty sewing skills whenever we move back to the US.
Heck, I can’t dependably buy dress clothes off-the-rack in either the US or Japan, and I’m an average sized guy. Men’s clothes seem to be made for flabby fat-asses or ectomorphic girly-men with nothing in between. My last suit was a semi-custom job because it didn’t cost much more than a pre-made one, and it actually fit properly.
