The Tailor ~ A Frugal Unskilled Person’s Best Friend
Let me start this off by saying that I realize being able to make simple (and not so simple) alterations yourself is much more frugal than a tailor. And I know that there are people who think that anyone can learn to sew.
I ascribe to the idea that saying anyone can learn to sew is like me saying anyone can learn organic chemistry. It is true in a broad sense but the amount of effort, time, and quality of results that can be achieved vary greatly from person to person. I’ve attempted to learn to sew several times. When I started grad school and was very lonely and bored and had access to a sewing machine for free, I actually put a lot of time and effort into it.
I had to turn those curtains into rags, even my spouse had to admit they were completely unusable.
That is why a tailor has become my frugal alternative - and truly, a tailor can be a frugal thing. The idea of a tailor has always sounded extravagant to me, but if they can make a piece of clothing that is unusable in its current state usable, they are worth the investment. The alteration, in most if not all cases, will cost less than replacing the item.
The first time I used a tailor besides my wedding dress was when my spouse unintentionally destroyed the elbows of two of his dress shirts on a sharp desk corner at work. His dress code is “business casual” and at his job, that means basically a suit and tie, except they don’t have to wear a jacket. Not so casual in my opinion, but you do what you need to do. And his clothing is expensive. So I honestly felt like crying when he destroyed the second shirt, and made him figure out what he was doing to destroy them. He did, but we still had the two shirts that were perfectly good except the gaping elbow tear.
So I took them to a tailor and had them turned into short sleeved dress shirts. He is allowed to wear short sleeved dress shirts in the summer, so it worked for us and he is still wearing those shirts today. And it was two less short sleeved dress shirts we had to buy. Now I try to find him dress shirts at Goodwill, but that is somewhat hit or miss - all the short sleeved ones I have seen in his size so far look like they are for a luau. 
We’ve recently run into another reason to go to a tailor for my husband’s business wardrobe - he’s been on a specific meal plan for the past 2+ months to lower his cholesterol and lose weight, and he’s lost 23 lbs. He’s now, according to the personal trainer they work with, at about 11% body fat (his goal is 9%) so he is starting to add calories back to his diet and move to maintaining mode versus weight loss mode, so he’s not going to change much more in size. And his pants are literally falling down. He had to get a new belt to hold them up.
We did use a gift card to JC Penney’s he received for Christmas to buy some new underwear and pants, but we aren’t donating his old pants yet. We’re taking them to be tailored. His pants, being dress slacks, are ~$60-$80 new (although I do shop the sales hard) and turning the 36″ waists into 32″ will be a lot less than that, I bet. Some of them may not be able to be tailored, but I bet some will be. And we won’t have to replace any more of his pants for a long time.
Find a good tailor, and use them instead of replacing clothing if you can. You’ll be surprised how much money you can save. (Or learn to sew - that’s even better. I have the scarred and calloused hands to prove that it wasn’t the best idea for me. Although I can now replace a button. )
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
You can also: Stumble It! Bookmark Submit to Reddit Submit to Tip'd
April 7th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Last week I finally dropped off a bag of clothing at a local seamstress. The bag had been sitting in the closet collecting donations at odd intervals all winter. Included are a nice Nike winter jacket for one of my sons with a broken zipper, and two pairs of Land’s End shorts for myself with ripped seams.
I can’t sew. My dear grandmother tried to teach me - she had the patience of a saint, I swear. Even she gave up! Lucky for me I married a man who can do the basics like sewing on a loose button, etc. But the stuff in the bag was bigger than the both of us.
I am going to feel so much better when I pick those items up on Thursday and know they can be put to more use.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:47 am
When it comes to dressing my husband, I use TJMaxx and Marshalls. I don’t think we have paid more than $30 for nice dress pants and $20 for nice dress shirts. They are name brand and last forever. If you need to buy a few things, it is a great place to go and better quality than JCPenneys.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:46 am
We don’t have TJMaxx here (yes I know, we are very deprived!) and I have never had luck with the Marshalls here as far as dress clothes for my spouse as far as finding his size. I have gotten plenty of clothes there for me, and I did get him a belt there.
My spouse likes JC Penneys for some reason. But we had gift cards and did not spend more than the card’s value so to me it was free.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Gosh, if you’ve got a tailor who can deconstruct the waist on a pair of man’s pants, rebuild the body, shorten the waistband, and put it all back together for a reasonable price, you’ve got a real gem! Mine just takes a tuck, leaving my pants looking the same as they look when I pull them in with a safety pin.
You should see if there’s anyone in your area who does reweaving. Sometimes a reweaver can work miracles with ripped fabric.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Changing the waist by 4″ is pushing the limits of a tailor without massive overhaul of the pants. Limited cost-effectiveness, as sometimes they just look saggy in the inseam when you try to do that.
However - I totally agree with you on the value of a tailor! I’ve sewn since I was 2 (learn early and it stays with you forever) but there’s this little problem called “fitting myself” whereby I can’t make alterations on my own clothes very well witout help. Imagine trying to pin up your own hems… That said, I have, on more than one occasion, taken my alterations and paid to have them pinned for me, so that I could go home and alter them myself. Far cheaper than replacing the item, and more economical for me than letting them do it.
I do believe anyone can learn to sew - but not everyone wants to master it. Keep a small, local business up and running: Use your tailor!
To Funny About Money: They should really be doing more than tucking in the waistband. There’s some subtle re-shaping that should be done as part of the alteration for the money you pay. At least that’s how we handled it when I sewed for an alterations shop.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:44 am
@ Historic Stitcher - thanks for the insight about changing the waist - he did buy two new pairs of pants in his new size this weekend, and he had one pair already from his business suit that was formerly too small, but I was hoping to get his other 5 pairs of pants altered vs buying two more. Well, we’ll see. we have a tailor we like - I am short and taekwondo uniforms come in limited sizes so I always need my leg and sleeve lengths altered.
@ Funny About Money - well, maybe my altering strategy isn’t going to work so well
I stand behind my “I cannot sew” stance btw.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I’m also short and have found that if I can find a nice pair of jeans or slacks at Goodwill that are just too long, it’s cheaper to buy the Goodwill jeans and have them altered than to buy them new!
April 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
My husband is tall and skinny (31″ x 34″ is his preferred size) and it’s nearly impossible to find dress pants his size, especially when there is a sale. He has, twice I believe, bought a 32″ waist and taken them in himself (with his mother guiding him via phone).
April 7th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
You know, this is really a good idea - good post. It has got me thinking about a few different things I could get altered now - thanks for sharing!!
April 7th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
While I can sew outright, one thing I’d like to become better at specifically is tailoring. It’d be handy for personal use and quite a marketable skill. I can do minor alterations like hemming or converting long to short sleeves. But when it comes to redoing pants I’m a bit out of my league.
Actually, this post inspired me…perhaps I could take things from thrift stores and practice on them for myself. It’s a couple bucks for a valuable lesson and…potentially, something useful to wear!
April 8th, 2008 at 12:10 am
One of my friends took a course in tailoring at a community college. She learned to make some beautiful things! If you have the time, the patience, and the skill, it’s surely worth the effort learn.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:55 am
You… are adorable. At least you can do a button! That’s handy
I am a super sewing fan, so I don’t understand where you’re coming from, but I appreciate that you have found a solution (a tailor) rather than giving up and buying new things 
April 8th, 2008 at 4:22 am
What a great idea. I am not exactly handy with the needle - I can sew on a button but I repaired a hole in my son’d jeans with such disasterous results that I had to buy patches to cover up the mess. Even though I bought iron on patches, I asked my Mum to sort out the mess for me! The patches were quite expensive (£1.95 each) but it will extend the life of a £20 pair of jeans which is great.
April 8th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Ditto happened with my husband. 36″ to 32″. Too bad I ended up donating all his earlier trousers and jeans. The good thing is that he wears jeans to the office so his clothes do not cost us a fortune, and we were so happy for him getting back into the shape that we didn’t mind the money we spent on clothes. But if I had come across you post earlier, then I might have done something about it…hmmm.
April 8th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
My girlfriends and I get together and try to recreate our wardrobes with alterations and swapping clothes. Its great fun and good on the hip pocket!