Topic: The Neighborhood Tailor...A Dying Breed?

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Patentleathershoes

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VFG Past President
It seems like just like a lot of trades, tailoring has become a lost art. I don't mean that there aren't folks who sew well, but the local person who had a shop front and did alterations. They could do amazing things if a suit was just a tad too big, and by that I dont't mean just cuffing it and taking it up.

Nowadays, a drycleaner might mark your pants and send them out or may have someone who might do it there.

My husband's family went to the same drycleaner for years - probably 25 years and the gentleman who own it was a tailor, but opted for a drycleaning business to be able to spread the work load out amongst his two kids and a couple employees and to provide more services and he could do amazing things - it was definitely far from typical from the alterations dry cleaners offer.

You sometimes see folks advertise that they do dress alterations, but it is usually, again, a dress shop having someone in shop to alter their own dresses

Do you think it is truly a vestige of a by gone time, snuffed out by the convenience of "one stop shopping" - you go to the dept store, you can get alterations there, you can order your shoes to be dyed etc. or do you think it is there for folks who hunt it down? There are some folks out there, but they tend to advertise word of mouth and you can only find out if you talk to the right people, and do it from home or very limited, and the local tailor shop just seems to have disappeared.

Chris
 
Funny you should ask that, Chris. We have a little shop here in town called Elm Street Sewing. She does alterations, hems jeans, etc. etc.

Brandon, my military son, had to have some patches sewn on his uniform, so I sent him there. She dropped everything and did it for the guy in uniform.

Just a little hometown caring that meant so much.

I think they are still out there. :)
 
They are a dying breed. I dont think they can make enough to stay afloat. My Grandmother used to be a seamstress... I remember being really little sitting in the the shop had alot of wooden draws that had patterns and stuff... Alot of people coming in to be fitted... At the time she and my Mom made all my dresses...I was a little Diva...

I think its a dying trade in an age of diposable clothing.

-Chris
 
Part of it is that most maufactured clothing isn't made to be altered. There is nothing to let out and all the seams are serged together, making it time consuming to get to anything. Most of the clothing people purchase isn't worth the labor to have it altered except for length.

Hollis
 
I wish we could track down all the old-fashiond dress makers and tailors and keep them somewhere safe to preserve them and get them to pass on their skills to a new generation.

I aquired the dressmaker I use from my Aunt, and she's remarkable. When I first got into 60s fashions and wanted particular things that were smart and stylish but could only find tatty casual vintage fashions I went to her with patterns and fabric to make me things, and she'd often call so say "there's enough fabric left to make a matching skirt or a jacket" and she'd go through her old 60s patterns or construct something that matched perfectly. I don't even have to check with her before she makes something, she just *knows* what will be perfect.

She's alterred a lot of the vintage clothes I nicked from my mum and my nan (a little sacriligous to start alterring fabulous expensive fashion, but I want to wear it so it's tough, LOL!), and has recently performed a wonder on a Hardy Amies ballgown I aquired.

Remember how a friend asked me to sell some of her Aunt's old couture Hardy Amies items on ebay? (still have quite a lot left to put up on there too when I get round to it) Well there was a proper 1960s ballgown of the sort that Princess Margaret used to wear amongst the collection but it had been damaged beyond repair (or so we thought) under the arms where the embroidered fabric had pulled and frayed to an unbelievable extent. My friend told me to throw it out, but it was such a fabulous dress and so very Queen Elizabeth I too that I could bear to, so mum suggested I take it to our dressmaker to see what she could do.

A couple of days later the dress returned looking completely perfect. She had taken a piece from the front skirt panel of the dress (and replaced it with plain fabric to match the underskirts) where the fabric overlapped which she had matched perfectly with the damaged piece under the arms, and now it looks absoloutely glorious. My friend said I could keep it as I was so in love with it. So now I need a ball or a costume ball (and a ruff and a red wig and a crown, so I can pretend to be Elizabeth Tudor LOL!) to wear it to. It lives in the wardrobe at my mother's house, and I have a habit of trying to on and wandering round in it when I have to get changed at her house for some reason, LOL!

I almost did a year's dressmaking course but opted for hairdressing instead... can't work out whether it's good that I can cut and colour my own hair or whether I would have valued the dressmaking skills more, hmmm.

love, moons and starrs,
Senti.*
 
It does seem rather hard to come by these days. I've recently discovered a wonderful dry cleaners that also does alterations. It's in a high rent district (although, strangely, their prices were less than my local, less presitgeous, cleaners!) and they are accustomed to handling high end & designer garments from their more normal clientele.
I think I'm in love.

The guy who owns it worked in textiles for 15 years before he and his wife opened this cleaners. He handles all my vintage by hand and loves the stuff I bring in.. he says he hasn't handled fabrics like these in years!
 
(finding a good drycleaner...that is another long and sad story around here!)

Glad you have found someone good in BOTH categories

Chris
 
Some of the problem is, too, that clothing doesn't fit like it used to.

I saw a grown woman crossing the street today in sweatpants and a t-shirt and fuzzy house slippers. Yes, indoor shoes on the street.
She doesn't need a tailor, she needs therapy.

Jenn
 
Good point - casual is getting pushed to the limit!

And sweats, T's and jeans don't get altered.

But for Bridal and Prom work, I suspect most dressmakers and seamstresses would be out of work altogether.

Hollis
 
Jenn,

when i started looking at modern clothes on ebay one time...i was shocked that the bust measurements for a size 6 were 40-42" in some things!! talk about relaxed. It was a shock to me who has basically worn tailored things - and the occasional t shirt i wear i don't bother thinking about "flat measurements".

Chris
 
You know also i was thinking in light of my sister's wedding and upcoming alterations - a lot of people don't know what it is like to wear something truly flattering and that you can get the results by alteration, especially if you are not the type of figure people are designing for nowadays. They just settle for S M L
 
For most of her life, my Mom made her living as a seamstress & tailor. I remember when she went to classes for tailoring & for making lingerie.

In fact - I only recently (finally) sold her tailoring tools - a dressmakers ham & an arm roll, etc.

I haven't really looked for one here, but in Las Vegas & also in VA Beach, the seamstress/alterations shops seem really expensive. It's like $15 to hem a pair of lined slacks.

My Mom always charged too little, but I think that's kinda steep. Maybe it's a lot to me because I know if I had the time, sewing machine & patience, I could do it myself. My sewing skills are a well kept secret. LOL

So - my point is - I'm pretty sure there are still actual Tailors out there - mainly found where tuxes are sold. I wonder if they still have them in the higher end department stores? I remember when they were commonplace in all mens' departments.

The dressmakers/alterations gals are also found in bridal shoppes, but often they have their own storefront, too. Just look them up in the yellow pages under "Alterations."

xoxoxo
leisa
 
Originally posted by premierludwig
Remember how a friend asked me to sell some of her Aunt's old couture Hardy Amies items on ebay? (still have quite a lot left to put up on there too when I get round to it) Well there was a proper 1960s ballgown of the sort that Princess Margaret used to wear amongst the collection but it had been damaged beyond repair (or so we thought) under the arms where the embroidered fabric had pulled and frayed to an unbelievable extent. My friend told me to throw it out, but it was such a fabulous dress and so very Queen Elizabeth I too that I could bear to, so mum suggested I take it to our dressmaker to see what she could do.

A couple of days later the dress returned looking completely perfect. She had taken a piece from the front skirt panel of the dress (and replaced it with plain fabric to match the underskirts) where the fabric overlapped which she had matched perfectly with the damaged piece under the arms, and now it looks absoloutely glorious. My friend said I could keep it as I was so in love with it. So now I need a ball or a costume ball (and a ruff and a red wig and a crown, so I can pretend to be Elizabeth Tudor LOL!) to wear it to. It lives in the wardrobe at my mother's house, and I have a habit of trying to on and wandering round in it when I have to get changed at her house for some reason, LOL!
Click to expand...

Okay, we NEED to see this dress now!!!! Sounds amazing!! :D

Liz
 
That's a bargain Leisa if they know what they are doing and that is all you are getting done. A lot of tailors will do it free or reduce it if you are getting a number of other things to the garment, or doing alterations on something else, but thats really not a lot for a complete job. Lined slacks are no easy task because if they don't also hem the lining correctly you have a drafty leg or it looks like your slip is showing. :) Or if the pants are left longer for wear with boots or dress shoes and they don't "break" at the right point you look like you bought pants just a tiny bit too short for you or ill fitting. If you find someone who does them right, hang on to that person. I can't tell you how many suits my husband has that he had to find a new person on the cuffs, because it was the difference between a suit looking elegant or when he stood up looking like he had a really nice suit jacket but he couldn't afford nice pants to go with it.
 
Chris
I know the feeling. Our local drycleaner offered to patch my husband's Dior suit. Needless to say we are going to try another one in the hope of getting it darned. Otherwise I shall hunt out darning silks and try it myself.
Louise
 
i think i need to move further north and get the number for yours senti!
there are a few here as it's still a relatively old fashioned city so thankfully small business premises aren't exorbitantly priced and they can still afford the rent... but they still make their teeth meet when it comes to cost! i'm still desperate to find a traditional seamstress who works from her front room nearby..
 
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