Tailoring Tips & Alteration How-Tos: A Guide from Samantha Dowson

Stop wearing bad clothes.

No—we’re not talking about your style. Or questionable fashion trends. We’re talking the little tweaks that can take a piece from ill-fitting to polished and put-together. Stylist Samantha Dowson evangelizes the transformative power of a good tailor. Proportion is everything — and when you have the opportunity to switch up a piece so it hits you just right, it’s well worth the time, effort and energy to get it tailored. Tailoring makes less expensive clothes look more luxe, accentuates your assets and breathes new life into pieces you already own. We asked Samantha to help us zero in on some easy fixes.

Like all Cinderella stories, this one starts at the beginning: when you shop. Try to buy to accommodate the largest part of you (i.e. those curves we have) and tailor to fit the rest of you. Don’t be afraid to go up a size. Instead of focusing on the number on the tag, make it all about how amazing you will look. It’s much easier to take something in than out. Keep in mind tailoring does have its spendy limits. If you are looking to tailor something more than two sizes too big, the bill will likely exceed the cost of the garment. As a rule, knits are almost impossible to tailor.

Tailors: Not All Created Equal

For simple hems, sure, the dry cleaner will do. For bigger fixes, you will need to up the ante on skill. To find a top-notch tailor, ask friends or consider checking with your city’s nicer stores or bridal shops to see who they use for their clients (after all, their business depends on skilled stiching!).

Here’s a piece-by-piece guide to making fit work for your look.

Up Top

A good rule of thumb for jackets: When you keep your arms hanging straight down at your sides, sleeves should cover your whole wrist bone but not hang all the way down to your hands. For blouses or shirts, the cuff should hit at the root of your thumb. If the sleeves are too long, it is probably an easier fix. If the sleeves are way too short, there’s probably no saving it. 

Remember, an easy jacket upgrade is to switch up buttons. Natural materials will immediately make it more luxe. Great buttons like these and these abound on Etsy.

Down Low

Pants (talking about you, too, denim) should be barely higher than your ankle bone—which will look good with any shoes—flats or heels—while keeping them at max versatility. Sewing down pockets that don’t lay flat make pants look sleeker. Again, if you have hips, it is easy to take in the waist. Pro tip: A good tailor won’t just take in the waistband on too-large pants; they taper and take out material out of the seat, too.

All Around

Sadly, most clothes are cut for a fit model (5’10’’, size 2) and tend to have a long torso. As a result, most dresses need to be brought up on the shoulder, so all the seams hit right. A dart that falls too low (under the bust) or a detail that’s below the smallest point of your waist are tell-tale signs that things need to come up. When it comes to length, be sure a dress isn’t hitting the widest part of your calf (not the most flattering part of the anatomy)—it should be longer or shorter. 

Trying something on only to immediately take it off—been there, done that. Ask yourself why you took it off. If you just plain don’t like it, put it in a bag to consign or give away. But if it’s a fit issue, put it in the tailor pile with a mental (and physical) note on what tweak you think it needs. When you have a good pile going, make a date for a visit with your tailor for instant upgrades. And no more bad clothes.