I had a bag full of dresses, trousers, jackets etc. at the weekend that a friend dropped off, I replaced a zip for a colleague of my husbands and last night I took in two shirts that my husband had just bought. He always buys them for the collar to be comfortable but then they are too wide in the body.
My friend is short so her trousers will always be too short, plus she has lost weight.
Now many people would see losing weight as an ideal excuse to just get rid of all their clothes and buy new. Well that could cost an awful lot of money, despite the fact that some people may object that by the time you have paid for alterations you could buy new, that is not really true is it? A nice pair of trousers may be £20 at least, a local person would charge far less to make them fit for you. There is also the fact that you may still need length adjustments , so on top of the new price you may still need to have them taken up for them to be perfect.
It is also the case that you can buy great bargains at charity shops and sales if you find some one to do your sewing for you. You never have to think oh that is too long, a bit big etc, just grab the bargains and have them fitted to you.
Often when I buy things at charity shops even if they are my size I still like to alter the length or tweak things a little, it make them more to my taste. This is something you can't always get from just going out and buying new because we are all different heights and not many people are a fixed size waist and hips.
If you have seen this dress in an earlier post that I got from a charity shop I pretty much took it apart. It was a size 14 I think, (I'm an 8) and floor length maxi. It was shapeless also, I gave it structure, raised the hem while maintaining the border at the bottom and sized it down. Maybe you have clothes that just need some time and attention, it will save you money and save those clothes ending up in landfill. Why not find a local seamstress.
That is so nice that you are doing alterations for friends. I am sure that they appreciate your kindness.
ReplyDeleteHere in the US, many dry cleaning stores have a tailor attached to the business, or there are many stand alone tailors, even in the shopping malls.
However the price of alterations is high, but they seem to do good business.
Might that be a thought for you to maybe work from home doing tailoring, if that is something you would like to do of course. I would think there would be a market for that. If work is stressful it might be worth thinking about.
I am not really a sewer, but I have a go. Hardest part is understanding the machine.
When I was a girl I had my Grandmas hand operated Singer, it was great, so basic, now I'm confused by all the choices.
Love from Pam in Texas.xx