What do I do with the trimmings from a suit?

November 20, 2016 4:58 PM

Whenever I buy a new suit or pair of wool pants, the tailor always gives me these leftover trimmings. What do I do with these? Are they useful for anything?

I assume these are the leftovers from taking up a pair of paints or a suit jacket, but sometimes a new suit will just come with them without having any tailoring done at all. What's the use for these trimmings? Should I keep them? Throw them away? Sniff them appreciatively like a fine wine? Probably not the last one, but I'm truely baffled what I should do with these.

posted by fremen to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (6 answers total)

Best answer: They can be used to do small repairs to the suit, patches and the like, and to source material for reweaving. That's why they return them to you.

Of course, it's now fairly uncommon to do these kinds of repairs since the cost of finished clothes is low and the cost of doing repairs is high.
posted by Jahaza at 5:03 PM on November 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Keep them. Those are useful for any repairs.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 5:04 PM on November 20, 2016

If you ever need to mend/patch/alter the clothes in a way that would need more fabric, this is pretty much the only chance you've got to have matching fabric from the same dye lot. If you don't anticipate ever doing any of those things, feel free to throw them away. Or if you're really organized, you could keep them for later sale or donation along with the no-longer-used clothing.
posted by asperity at 5:04 PM on November 20, 2016

Best answer: They can be useful for when you are shopping for a short/tie and want to see how they look with the suit.
posted by smackfu at 5:25 PM on November 20, 2016 [13 favorites]

They can be useful for when you are shopping for a short/tie and want to see how they look with the suit.

THIS, absolutely! There are tons of variations on navy, black, gray, sharkskin...whatever color your pants/suit are, and matching shoes/tie/shirt/pocket square etc. to it isn't always as straightforward as "I bet the red one/brown pair will match." If you're not confident with your own eye on undertones and matching, bring it with you when you go shopping for shoes or other accessories and show it to a member of the sales staff.
posted by blue suede stockings at 5:44 PM on November 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Stick them in a ziplock baggy with a note inside indicating what they come from and maybe the year ("brown three button suit 2015" "mark's black tux 2008" etc) and put them all in a shoe box you keep in the back of your closet. When going through your clothes for donating or maybe handing down to someone else, dig out the shoe box and find the matching baggy and pin it to the suit. If you're selling to consignment this can make some folks give you a higher cut because it'll be more sellable, it's really nice for people who are thrifting who are crafty and handy but can't afford a non-thrifted suit's worth of material, and it's great for hand me downs because the more wear the more likely something will need to be repaired.

Of course you have to remember that the shoe box is there, but at the very least you'll be making an awesome little treasure trove for some descendant of yours who is interested in vintage fabrics and fashion.
posted by Mizu at 6:33 PM on November 20, 2016 [6 favorites]