Fashion Fix

These jeans are too long. This shirt’s sleeves are too wide. This skirt falls too low on the hips. These are just a few of the complaints I have when examining my wardrobe.

If I really think about it though, I have a unique body, so why would a standard size, meant to be sold to thousands, fit me perfectly?

Sarah Key, a seamstress in Milledgeville who works out of her home, said, “Patterns of clothing sold in stores are all standard while bodies are not standard.”

So if most clothing doesn’t fit your body, how hard is it to have a wardrobe that flatters your figure? How important is it to take the time to get your clothes tailored?

“Alterations are not just important, they are necessary.” Key said.

No matter how painful it may be to get alterations done, it is worth the extra effort because a correct fit is essential in looking your best. Fit is especially important with the key pieces in your wardrobe, so to start, make sure your jeans fit you right. The only rule for jeans is that they should make you look and feel 100 percent fabulous, regardless of the shirt you have on with them.

The problem of one of the legs of your jeans being too long is one of the most common, but luckily, fixing the problem is one of the easiest alterations that can be done, according to Vernice Hill, another seamstress in town who works from home.

“If you like an article of clothing, but it does not fit, buy it a little larger, so that there is some seam allowance,” Hill said. “Taking something up is easy, but letting something out – you should just forget it,” Hill said

So if you finally find the perfect pair of jeans, but you know you will go crazy stomping on the bottoms of them, take them to a seamstress like Key or Hill.

“All you do is come on in, put it on, and pin it according to how you want it to lay,” Key said.

“I could get your jeans hemmed up in 45 minutes to an hour. For that, I only charge 9 dollars,” Hill said.

Along with Hill and Key, many other stores offer alteration services, some free of charge with purchases. In fact, Belk, in the “Small,” as Milledgevillians call it, offers this novel benefit. They provide the service by sending clothes out of the store to be altered. All you have to do is come back and pick them up about two weeks later.

If you are heading out of town for the weekend, Nordstrom’s also offers free alterations for many jeans, bottoms and tops.

Joe Greco, store manager at the Nordstrom’s at Perimeter Mall, said they have their own personal employees taking care of alterations at the store.

“We have our own alterationists, and they are experts at what they do,” Greco said. “We can do our alterations very quickly – even as little as a few hours – depending on the garment. We want our customers to be taken care of from beginning to end.”

For alteration services in Milledgeville, contact Vernice Hill at 452-9458.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 9 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry