The Best (and Easiest) Alterations You Can Make to Your Shirts
Making alterations to your clothing might seem like one more complicated step in the whole clothing process but trust me, it’s worth it. Throughout the course of shopping sessions and mix + match capsule sessions, I’ve been talking a lot more with my clients about the importance of alterations.
WHY ARE alterations important?
Clothing isn’t made for our individual bodies anymore. It used to be before fast fashion became a big trend. Because of the course none of us remembers the days of having tailor-made clothing. And many of us associate a seamstress with having a wedding dress or bridesmaid dress altered for a special event. So it’s hard to understand why alterations would be useful in our everyday lives unless we start to change the mental outlook on the process of buying clothing. Altering a piece to fit your shape increases the likelihood that you will wear the piece more often. Altering clothing breathes new life into a piece that may have once been seen as “unwearable”.
Clothing fit frustrations
How many of you have been to a store or ordered something online, tried it on, liked some parts of it but it didn’t fit exactly right so you just tossed it aside (after blaming your body for not fitting into something) and continued on your ever frustrated shopping journey? Why does this happen? For the following reasons:
Not having an understanding of proper fit for your unique shape (Take Finding Your Style to help with that)
Not having a clear idea for what you want to buy (shopping with a list helps)
Not understanding how a piece of clothing can (and should) be altered to fit your unique shape
So this is where I come in to help you with that. Over the course of a few alterations blog posts (because it needed to be broken down into tops, bottoms, and dresses) I’m going to share with you some of the best (and easiest) alterations you can make to a piece of clothing to bring new life into that piece. It’s time to start loving what you wear and this is one step in that process. If at any point in time you want more one-to-one specific help you can book a one-hour virtual style session and we can go over specific alteration suggestions.
How do you know if something should be altered?
Here is my list of specific qualifications that I use to decide whether something should be altered:
It’s still in good condition (this is if you already own it)
You really like the color if it’s a solid or print if it’s a pattern
You like the overall structure/style/idea of the piece
You have pieces in your closet that can be worn with it
You would feel sad letting it go but aren’t wearing it now for some reason
The Best (+easiest) alterations to make on your tops/shirts/layers
If you’ve nodded yes to the above qualifications and have a few pieces in mind to have altered, let’s now take a look at some of the best alterations you can make that are quite easy to do with a basic alteration, seamstress, or tailoring job.
Sleeves
Length: Hem/bottom
collar
sides
Here were my alterations done to my new bodysuit at my local alterations shop in San Diego:
Here’s an example of how I’m having a sleeve altered. This was a fantastic dressier jumpsuit that was only available in a size up from my normal size. It fit great in the shoulders and I love, love the style of it. But it was too wide in the arm/sleeve. So I asked for it to be taken in, in the arm, and she did it! I also asked her to add in a hook and eye clasp so it would properly close up the ‘v’. She did that too!
Total cost: $32
A hook and eye closure was added to the top to close the “v” so it isn’t so deep any longer. I love it!
The sleeve was taken in a few inches and it looks so much better! Still roomy but way more fitted!
How do you find a good alterations service, tailor, or seamstress?
This is where the power of Yelp, Nextdoor, and your dry cleaner come in big time! Start by looking on Yelp and entering “tailor” or “seamstress” or “alterations” near you. This is a great first step. Look at the reviews, the ratings, etc. to get a better idea for what work they do. Another great resource is NextDoor, which is where you can find local tailor recommendations in a neighborhood near you. Finally, I came across this great resource below, Thumbtack, which will allow you to enter your zip code to find an alterations recommendation near you!
These are the best ways to source out a tailor that will work for you. That same website also offers a great resource chart for the average pricing for alterations. See below (credit: Thumbtack): If you build in the cost of an alteration before you buy clothing, it makes it worth it!
