Do you alter your jeans?

[Anonymous]

Finally lost all the pregnancy weight after having 3 kids in the span of 17 months (twins born early, long story). Anyway, I feel like jeans became ridiculously longer in the past 4 years and I am average height (5'5). I feel like when I altered jeans in the past the hem just looked ridiculous, like the jeans lost some shape with how they hung. But honestly I would have to be in 5" heels for jeans not to crumple on the floor ( I tried on a citizens of humanity today which always fit my body type best). given the comment above on three young kids, high heels are clearly not a reality for me. Alteration seems the only bet. Does it really look ok? Kind of pisses me off to spend 20 more dollars on 200 dollar pair of jeans....

And tag on, if you live in the Bethesda area, where do you go for alterations?
'

[Anonymous]

i'm 4'11" and have my jeans altered even if i buy petite, and they don't look bad that way at all. much better than folding them. they're also not $200 jeans.

[Anonymous]

yes, don't have recommendation for Bethesda, I would ask a local boutique, they can usually recommend someone.

[Anonymous]

The ladies at the Lucky store in Montgomery Mall said they had heard good things about the alterations shop in the mall.

I wish I had just taken the damn things there, because I was holding out for a recommendation closer to me in DC, never got one, didn't want to roll the dice, and have been sporting a goofy cuff for several weeks instead.

So- maybe the location isn't so bad for you!

[Anonymous]

Nordstroms and J Crew do alterations for free! Purchase them there and just let the store handle it...

[Anonymous]

If you are buying Citizens for Humanity jeans, buy them at Neiman's and have them do the alterations. They usually have a very good seamstress and they can even keep the original hem for you.

[Anonymous]

Every tailor even dry cleaners can do a fine gem. You just have to specifically ask for the original hen to be put back on.

[Anonymous]

Meant hem.

[Anonymous]

The best lady I have ever been to in DC (Sorry, not Bethesda) is At Harvey's Custom Cleaners. They're right off Wisconsin between MacClean Gardens and the block with Starbucks before the bad Giant. I kept taking work pants to different dry cleaners to be hemmed, and they always made them TOO SHORT (ie the floods are coming) basically ruining the pants. My husband saw the policemen from the local precinct walking in and out of Harvey's carrying uniforms to be tailored and figured they must be good (uniforms aren't cheap). So he told me about them. I tried out hemming and was specific about what shoe length I wanted the pants to work with (in my case flats). She is really really good, and measures you wearing the shoes you're aiming for (bring them). Rolls one hem and done. I have never had them come out badly. I recently took a coat to have the sleeves trimmed. She managed to keep the fancy braid on the lower sleeve instead of cutting it off by shortening it in a way I would not have thought possible. Came out looking great. She is not super talkative, but really good-who cares?. The family is really nice (son at the front always asks about my kid in the stroller etc.). When you invest in your clothes it sucks to get them ruined. Hemming etc. costs a bit, but not too pricey for the tailoring (15, 20 dollars for pants hem...can't quite remember). I've been very satisfied. They'll tell you the price in advance if you ask and won't try to upsell. Yelp has a few reviews on them, all positive. Had to give them a shout-out after so many bad hemming encounters....


Harvey's Custom Cleaners

3408 Idaho Ave NW
(between N Newark St & N Wisconsin Ave)
Washington, DC 20016
[phone]


Hours:

Mon-Fri 7 am - 7 pm

Sat 8 am - 6 pm

[Anonymous]

Absolutely! I'm a short girl and this is a necessity if I don't want to look sloppy. Do's custom tailors on wisconsin in Georgetown do an awesome job. They put the original gem back on so the jeans look like they've never been touched.

[Anonymous]

Sorry- hem! Not gem.

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'3" and need to hem most jeans, even petite sizes. The only exception: GAP jeans, which are available in ankle-length in various fits. They're not bad, so you might check them out. Otherwise, Bloomingdale's carries petite sizes of jeans, including Joe's, at the CCDC store; they charge for alterations whereas Nordstrom doesn't, but I don't think they carry any "premium" jeans in petites. You can also order online through Anthropologie, which carries Citizens, Sevens and Joe's in petite sizes. I'm sure you can order them through many other retailers and from the manufacturer as well, but if you order through Anthro, you can return them at the brick and mortar store, which I find easier to do than shipping them back. For alterations of jeans and other items, I like Kim's on Wisconsin at Van Ness (202.686.2802) and Maria at Rose Custom Tailors, next to BCC HS on E-W Highway (301.656.1811). They've both done some complicated tailoring for me -- in particular, Maria was a life-saver, altering a hand-me-down suit from my oldest son to my younger one in one week when he got an unexpected invitation to a prom. She even offered him free advice on corsage selection as part of the deal!

[Anonymous]

I finally found a partial answer to my pant fitting problems. I'm 5'4" 110 lbs. I have a small waist but normal size hips. If they fit in the hips they gapped like crazy in the waist. I could NEVER find pants to fit. So, I went to the girls department at LLBean and found out that I could wear a girls 16 or 18. The absolute beauty of this is that they come with the adjustable waist feature. I can cinch them up and let them out at will. This won't work for actual work clothes but for casual kicking around it's been a Godsend. Now why don't women's pants come with that feature? I'm sure half of us out there could use it!