WHY TAILORING/ALTERING YOUR GARMENTS IS A NECESSITY, AND WHY IT’S NOT A BAD THING IF YOU BUY SIZE LARGE

For many, the belief of altering your clothing is just a rare occurrence. Companies and consumerism has convinced most of us to buy our clothing off the rack and be done — it is so far from the truth. Historically, clothing was often made for people in-house, literally. In your home, a family member had the job of making clothing. This was typically done by the mother, and she would make the clothing to fit each person to their body.

The truth of the matter is the standard size chart is not a set of accurate measurements. In fact, it just a collection of arbitrary numbers that each brand/designer decides what they want. So, this is why you sometimes fit in a size 8, or size 4 — the brand decides what measurements a size 4 will be and go with it. This is also known as “vanity sizing.”

Vanity sizing is a way to entice buyers. It is a common occurrence in the USA. When brands use vanity sizing, it makes their customers happy because they would be a size 4 in their brand while in other brands they would be a size 8. In all honesty, it’s a psychological ploy to make more money.

Conversely, there are brands that make their clothing very small [in my opinion] to have only a certain type customer wear their clothing aka skinny. I also have this theory they do this to effect people psychologically to make them feel they aren’t good enough. This in turn makes people spend money on the diet, fitness, and surgery industries. The western world constantly preys on our insecurities to make a profit in different avenues.

I should also note that the food we eat here in the USA is the main culprit. I’ve travelled abroad since I was 3-4 years old almost every year, and whenever I am abroad I eat as much as I want and I actually would lose weight. Bread, cheese, rice, desserts, you name it…I ate it! Then, when I come back to the USA, I would gain weight easily. The food in the USA has too many chemicals and it overall very much acidic. I eat a vegan/alkaline diet currently.

Current day, my size is typically a small or medium, and size 4 in jeans (size 6 sometimes in trousers though). Sometimes I’ll even get an x-small or large too. It all goes back to the arbitrary size chart system I mentioned above. For me I can’t say the size chart never bothered me. When I was younger (and heavier), I did feel more self conscious and upset if I had to pick a “huge” size. It also didn’t help that I grew up during a time when eating disorders were heavily glamorized and considered the standard of beauty. I didn’t follow much of celebrity life, but from what I did see is that a lot of them were scary skinny to be size 0.

Regardless of what number shows up on the scale for you, you need to accept and love yourself for who you are. Even if you lose weight and get to your “goal weight,” it won’t change your perception of yourself overnight. Only you can do that with inner work.

With that said, I always check the three things before I buy an item — the fabric, the overall silhouette of a garment and the size chart.

When it comes to fabric, how much stretch it has and how it drapes on your body matters. For example, when a sweater doesn’t have a form fitting silhouette, I can sometimes go down a size to avoid a baggy silhouette on myself. Next, I will always check the size chart so I know what their sizing system is so I can see which size is closest to my size measurements. This is why it is important to know your measurements. It certainly makes online shopping very easy.

Now what happens when there is a huge difference between your chest, waist, or hips? A huge difference to the point where you will either pick a too small or too large size? The crucial thing is to always buy your clothing for the biggest part of your body. For example, a woman with a large bust and small waist will always buy a blouse in a size that will accommodate her bust size. The next step would be that she will take it to a trusted tailor and have it taken in at the waist. The final result? A tailored garment that compliments her body and makes her look her best.

Here is some photo guides of how to measure your bust, waist, and hips by using a measuring tape:

Of course the most ideal would be have measurements of your whole body. I’ve found for myself that measuring my bust, waist, and hips are the top 3 that ensure me to pick the right size when online shopping. For men, I would recommend measuring your shoulders (shoulder tip to shoulder tip), chest, and waist.

Another reason for the importance of tailoring is body type. I am an hourglass shape so wearing anything boxy/non form fitting is just a big no for me. Any time I try to toy with the idea by trying on a loose style garment, I instantly back track to my initial clothing rules. Form fitting and complimentary designs to my body shape are an absolute priority. This is why tailoring has become a staple for me. I feel and look my best when I have a tailored fit and I don’t want to wear something that makes me feel uncomfortable.

Tailoring is a necessity but it definitely needs its own budget. This is why for many the idea is a turn off. Though, if you are making mindful purchases and use your garments for many different outfits, it’s a worthwhile investment. This is why when you are shopping for clothing you need to set a budget for purchases, and then tailoring as well. Generally, the more complicated the alteration, the higher the price. For simple alterations, expect to pay $15-30 dollars depending on the tailor you go to.

If you really can’t afford to fit tailoring into your budget, I will say that at least consider doing tailoring to only have your pants/jeans hemmed to match your height. For someone who is short like myself, this is a necessity because standard sizing accommodates tall consumers. This is because it is obviously easy to cut fabric length if something is too long as opposed to a pair of jeans being too short. There is no subtle fix for that. It costs around $10 dollars to hem a pair of pants. Make sure to wash or dry clean the garment before taking it to a tailor though. A garment will slightly shrink 99% of the time when you wash it for the first time. You don’t want to shorten the hem to a perfect length only to see it has gotten shorter after a harmless wash.

An example of this is my FRAME Denim jeans I bought a couple of months ago on sale. The light wash denim already had a raw frayed hem (not stitched), so it was a quick fix without a sewing machine.

First what I did was try on the jeans and take a look at how baggy the hem was. It appeared to me that I needed to take at least 1″ from the hem. After changing, I got straight to work! This is a very easy fix by the way, so don’t feel overwhelmed!

The Steps I Took:

1) I took the jeans and aligned both pant legs together.

2) I took sewing pins and pinned the hems of each side together so they won’t move.

3) Next, I used tailor’s chalk to strike a line across the hem with a clear ruler. I cut about 1/2″ with my sewing shears.

**The essential rule is to always take a little bit from the hem so as to not accidentally cut too much.

4) I then proceeded to try them on once more. I deducted that I needed to cut 1″ to have the ideal hem for my height.

5) I put the jeans on my patterning table once more and repeated Steps 1-3, except this time I made a line for around 1.5.”

6) I tried on my jeans once again and they were perfect!

Here is some examples of clothing I had altered that you all have seen already:

The Bebe faux leather bustier top I wore for Halloween this year: Originally it had a keyhole opening in the front but I felt it was too revealing. I had a tailor close it and then also take in the top from the sides because it was loose on me. I actually have to take it in again in the future because I have lost weight since I initially did the alteration.

The Zara multi colored tweed Blazer: The high point of the blazer (closest to the neck) needed to be taken in since the front was too baggy.

The Valentino skirt: An unexpected find during the winter designer online sale. I bought it in a size 10 as it was the last size available and paid to have it altered to a size 6.

There is more clothing I have had altered from previous years, but you will see them all in future blog posts. I actually haven’t gotten any tailoring done this year since I cut back on buying clothing (and the little clothing I did buy didn’t need to be tailored). I hope this post gave you some insight on the importance of tailoring. Maybe I will make a habit to mention clothing I had tailoring while giving the brand details in my future posts? We will see. Until next time!

Pollá efcharistó xoxo

Nadine