Alterations

Alterations
Get your perfect fit

Vintage Tailors has been making alterations to clothing for more than thirty years. With effective adjustments, you transform garments, helping them flow over the contours of your body perfectly. With professional alterations, you’ll look and feel better. 

Our
Alterations

Tailoring a garment means constructing an item of clothing from scratch designed to fit the unique shape of your body perfectly. Alternation, by contrast, involves taking a regular, mass-produced garment and then changing aspects of it to make it fit better. 

Alterations are fabulous because they allow you to revolutionize your wardrobe, without having to change your style. You can keep your regular look, but achieve classic lines at the same time, something that is nearly impossible when you buy clothing off-the-shelf. 

The following are some of the alterations we offer. This is not an exhaustive list.

Hem
Adjustments

The hem of a garment refers to the edge where clothes makers fold over the fabric and stitch it into place, preventing it from unraveling or fraying. Hemming is a vital alteration technique because it allows you to change the length of an item of clothing, making it fit better. 

Long shirts, for instance, can hang down much further than the waist, creating a sloppy appearance. With hemming, you can bring the fabric upwards to a more favorable position while allowing you to continue wearing the shirts you love. 

Hemming is also essential for jeans and pants. Sometimes, jeans and pants can be too long, hanging over your shoes and creating an unkempt appearance. Shortening the hem of the jeans or pants pulls the bottom of the garment off the foot, creating a neater, smarter appearance.

Inseam & Outseam
Adjustments

In general, the term inseam is the distance between the crotch and the bottom of the leg. Garments that you wear on your lower body need to fit your inseam to look their best. 

Somewhat confusingly, the stitching that runs along the inside of the pant leg from the crotch to the ankle is also called the inseam. Usually, the inseam stitching is the same length as the inseam measurement. 

Many manufacturers tend to create inseams in standard lengths. What’s more, they match the length of the inseam to other measurements on the garment, such as the waist. Many people, therefore, have no choice but to choose measurement combinations that are not suited to the shape of their bodies. If you like an item of clothing, alterations can help you avoid taking it back to the shop. An experienced tailor can change the length of the inseam to match that of your legs, regardless of the size of your waist, thighs, or any other measurement.

The outseam is the distance between the hem of the pants and the waistline. Just as with the inseam, the length of the outseam needs to fit your body type. People with high hips often need longer outseams than those with low. 

Waist
Adjustments

The waist measurement is the circumference of the waist. As with inseams, manufacturers adjust the size of the waist according to the other measurements of the garment. You could find that you have a perfect-fitting inseam, but that the waist is too small.

Altering the waist lets you add or remove the total circumference of the garment so that it fits your body type better. You can adjust the waist size on suit pants, shorts, skirts, and kilts.

Tapering

Some manufacturers do not taper their pants from the waist to the ankle, creating a less flattering silhouette. Tapering is the act of removing some of the material to make the pants look more streamlined. 

Tailors can also perform a similar operation on the sleeves. Sometimes, the sleeves are too baggy, especially around the shoulders, creating a puffed-up appearance. Tapering reduces their circumference, making them hug the body better. You can get tapering to improve the look of the shirt anywhere along the length of the sleeve, from the cuff to the underarm. Women can also make adjustments to the side seam, creating a more flattering profile.

Darts

Darts are an alteration designed to improve the fit of the garment and pants. Tailors usually shape a pair of darts into the fabric, spacing them apart evenly to provide a better fit. People with broad shoulders can benefit substantially from darts because they slim down the waist and create a better profile. 

Side Seams

Most mass-produced shirts have straight side seams. While this lowers costs, it can also make you appear boxier than you would like. Ideally, your body should curve inwards from the shoulders and then outwards again from the waist. 

Side seam adjustments take the boxiness out of the shirt and help it to cling to your middle more. This alteration reduces bagginess and makes it more flattering overall. Some garments have slightly more complicated patterns that might necessitate making changes to the underarm too.

Suit
Alterations

Sometimes you think that you’ve found the perfect suit, only to discover that it doesn’t fit you perfectly. It can be a real disappointment, especially if you have invested a considerable amount of money. 

Alternations, however, can help. As we discussed above, you can completely revolutionize your ill-fitting suit with alterations to make something that looks fabulous on you. 

Vintage Tailors offers alterations on suits for both men and women. The process is simple. We first look at what your outfit looks like when you wear it right now, checking for problems with the fit. We then consult with you about the issues that you feel that the suit has and how you would like us to change it. 

After that, we begin the process of altering the suit to fit your body measurements and shape, using all of the techniques described above. At the end of it, you get a suit that fits your body perfectly, without any annoying bagginess or tightness. 

Making alterations can make an enormous difference in how you feel. You can get business clothing that provides you with comfort and confidence that you need to be at your best in the workplace. Having a shirt or suit that fits can utterly transform your look, helping you to create a better impression with clients, colleagues, managers, or anyone else you interact with. 

If you have suits in your closet that you are not happy with, don’t let them hang there, accumulating dust. Make the necessary alterations and make the most of your investment.

Dress
Alterations

Not all dresses fit perfectly off the hanger. Sometimes, you need to make adjustments to ensure that they are at their best. 

Many women choose alterations to modify their dress so that it fits perfectly, come the big day. These are all kinds of dress alterations, from bringing in the waist to expanding the bust. 

You can also get alterations for other dresses too, including evening gowns and party dresses. 

Vintage Tailors allows you to make alterations to your dress, whether it is embellished, couture finished, sequinned, or corseted. By taking measurements and making simple adjustments, you can transform your favorite dress into something that hugs your body as if it was made for you. Strictly speaking, it is!