Tailor Etiquette

October 25, 2013 7:36 AM

Obviously I can bring my wool coat back to the tailor who originally made alterations to the sleeves. I'm just wondering if I will look like a jerk for doing so. Also wondering what I'll be charged. $0 doesn't seem right, but paying $80 again feels wrong, too.

I bought the coat at the end of spring (~last May), when it was much too warm outside to wear the coat. Got it at a good price, looked forward to wearing it in late fall and winter. The fit was great except it's a man's coat and I'm a lady, so the shoulders were very wide. Picture: American football player.

Had the sleeves altered for $80. When I tried on the coat again, I was-- for whatever reason-- feeling anxious and rushed, so I just told the tailor it was great, paid with a big smile, and let the coat hang in my closet for 5 months.

The shoulders are still too wide. The work they did was quite good-- It all looks clean and beautiful and durable. I'd recommend this tailor to anyone but OMG I hate the width of the shoulders and just feel shitty about it.

I feel like they'd remember me and my coat if I were to go back, though I don't have a receipt. I don't even mind paying another $80 but who's to say they'll get it right the second time around? How do people proceed in cases like this?

posted by little_dog_laughing to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (12 answers total)

Are you sure your expectations around the alterations are reasonable? In this price range you could easily get a woman's wool coat, so I might be tempted to just do that instead of continuing to attempt to make a coat that's almost what you want into what you actually want.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:43 AM on October 25, 2013

When I tried on the coat again, I was-- for whatever reason-- feeling anxious and rushed, so I just told the tailor it was great, paid with a big smile, and let the coat hang in my closet for 5 months.
...
I don't even mind paying another $80 but who's to say they'll get it right the second time around?

You are. Take the coat back, tell them what happened, and see what they do. They may feel that you abrogated any right to demand further changes for free by waiting five months, but they may not want to lose you as a customer and go ahead and do it gratis (after all, it's not like they're losing any money by doing it now rather than when you took it in the first time).

And when you get it back this time, either take the time to wear it in the shop and make sure it's perfect, or ask them if you can wear it for a couple of days to make sure it's perfect for daily use.
posted by Etrigan at 7:45 AM on October 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

I don't feel like it's weird at all. People are flakey all the time. (I actually don't think this is particularly flakey anyway but the bar has been set low by other people.) The ability to be flakey (politely) is a reason why we pay people to do things for us. It's a benefit of this weird, usually dehumanizing capitalist system.

That said, I totally understand the impulse to not want to do this. Back when I used to do more than my hair than go to a barber, I've walked out of a stylist with it longer than I intended and then walked back in the next day and said..."um, I changed my mind." It didn't mean I didn't like what they had done. But I did feel weird about it. But you shouldn't.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:48 AM on October 25, 2013

Best answer: I think 5 months later is too long to go back and have the coat further altered as part of the same job, particularly given that you "accepted" it by trying it on there and saying it was great. Just take it back and mention that you had them fix it before but realize now that it doesn't fit. If they offer to do it gratis, or for a reduced rate, graciously accept, but I wouldn't ask or assume that is the case. The onus is on you to ensure tailored clothes fit your body when the work is done.

who's to say they'll get it right the second time around?

You are. You will pay them a new fee and you will have them do the work until it is acceptable to you.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:48 AM on October 25, 2013 [10 favorites]

Best answer: honestly - they should have told you they couldn't do it. Fixing too wide shoulders on a jacket is not something that should normally be done - you end up having to almost remake the jacket.
posted by JPD at 8:07 AM on October 25, 2013 [11 favorites]

Just gotta negotiate. $40 should be an ok compromise btw
posted by oceanjesse at 8:10 AM on October 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Shoulders are the most difficult element to fix by tailoring, and you shouldn't expect them to do it for free or even a compromise price because that is not what you asked for initially. (I'm assuming this because sleeve hemming AND slimming the shoulders costs more than $80.) Shoulder alterations can cost as much as the price of the coat and usually it's cost prohibitive. You can go back and ask how much it will be but I'm guessing you will be unpleasantly surprised.
posted by emkelley at 8:31 AM on October 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

I used to sew and I can tell you that doing shoulders on a coat is a lot of work. And redoing them is even more work, since you have to take apart the lining and the outer fabric as well, plus a proper shoulder requires ironing the fabric into shape so there is heat and stretching involved. So from that perspective, I say you have to pay them to do it again.

However, I also fully agree with @JPD and @emkelley that it's nearly impossible to do a smaller shoulder, other than using the original garment as the source of fabric to make an entirely new garment. You will not be happy with the result. I recommend writing this off as a loss, even though a good tailor should have told you that you were requesting something that should not be done in the first place.
posted by rada at 9:23 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

My cyclist arse demands tailoring of pants; the day I get them from the tailors is the day I try on and check out the fit. I am going to say five months is a little past the test fit date; and you should have either known better or be liberal when compensating for the refit.
Not having the receipt is as it reads... I would count on a dumb look unless I was a monthly regular in the tailor shop.
posted by buzzman at 10:14 AM on October 25, 2013

Giselda was an expert amateur seamstress, made fantastic clothing for herself. Her advice was "make sure the shoulders fit" because anything else can be altered.
posted by Cranberry at 12:26 PM on October 25, 2013

Response by poster: Well, I'm not sure what I'll do. Maybe bring it to a different tailor to spare myself the anxiety, and tell them my history with coat, and see if they feel they can honestly satisfy me. I don't know.

Thanks, all!
posted by little_dog_laughing at 3:24 PM on October 25, 2013

Shoulders too wide, armholes too big, etc.?

Forget it. Sell the coat, and buy something that fits better. No honest tailor is going to try to fix that, and anyone that takes that job, is either pulling your leg, or doesn't understand what you want.
posted by paulsc at 10:05 PM on October 25, 2013