I inherited a tuxedo from my late father in law and need the jacket altered. He was taller than me, so the sleeves need about an inch taken up, and the waist needs to come up. I’m afraid this will be costly.
Anyone got any experience with this?
The sleeves are probably pretty straightforward. Think in the neighborhood of $25 or so. On the waist, it probably depends on the design on the jacket, but I bet you could have the whole thing done by a good tailor for under $100.
I think $25 is more than I’ve ever paid to have a garment altered (including sportcoats and suit coats). However, they’ve always been minor alterations of brand new items (e.g. adjust the sleeve length, etc.), often at the time of purchase (which might involve a discount). More drastic changes would probably cost more, but if the garment is of decent quality the cost of alteration should be far less than the garment’s value.
Altering will get it to fit. Tailoring will get it to look good. Save up a few lattes and skimp on a couple other things and find yourself a good tailor. It may run you +/- $100-150, but the results will be worth it–particularly as it’s a tuxedo.