Tailored

Recently I found myself in need of the services of a tailor. I acquired an interesting pair of wool cargo pants on eBay that were the correct waist size but were a couple of inches longer than my usual inseam. I also have a wonderful pair of Banana Republic wool dress pants in a hefty and luxurious covert twill fabric that I found on sale many years back that hat gotten a bit too snug in the waist. Fortunately they were made with a split back so they could be altered, and there was at least an extra inch of fabric on each side (though I only needed about half of that).

Now, you've heard me talk about the Mrs.' sewing skills, so why should I need a tailor when I have an in-house artisan? Simple: the Mrs. hates doing alterations. I'm not entirely sure why. I have two pairs of corduroy jeans that are too long; I asked her to hem them in the fall of 2008, and they are still sitting in her work area. I've tried gentle nagging, I've tried subtle cajoling, I've tried outright bribery. Will I get to wear them before it gets to be shorts weather? Who knows?

But it's not just that she hates doing alterations for me--she hates doing them for herself, too. Since she's very short, it's difficult for her to find pants that fit properly without hemming, and she often buys pants that end up just sitting in the pile of items to be hemmed. She has two wool coats from Filene's (which tells you how long ago she bought them; the regular Filene's stores closed three and a half years ago) that needed to have their sleeves shortened; she finally got around to fixing one of them this past fall.

I didn't even ask her about hemming the cargo pants, since she hasn't gotten to my other hemming requests. I showed her the other wool pants with the split waist, and she basically said she could do it, but it was more of a bother than she felt like dealing with. So I needed to find a professional.

There are no tailor shops in my immediate neighborhood. There isn't even a dry cleaner; there used to be one just a block away, but it closed a couple of years back, and it's been sitting empty since, with all the signage in place and equipment still inside. There is also no tailor in the vicinity of where I work. There was a place near where we used to live, but I was not thrilled with their output, and I thought they were overpriced.

Back in December, Giuseppe of An Affordable Wardrobe wrote about the tailor shop in Teele Square where he takes his thrift finds that need alterations. He had high praise their work, so I figured that was as good a recommendation as any. Teele is near enough to us that we can easily swing through there on our Saturday errand runs, and I can get there on my own if need be. Mr. Lee did excellent work, and the total for both pants was $27. Perhaps the Mrs. should take her own alteration needs to him; they would certainly be finished sooner.