Man here. I had a tux and a suit altered for a wedding after a weight loss. Used my wife’s very good tailor at her suggestion. Cost = $800 plus.

The reality is that we're paying slave labor for the made-in-China clothing we buy!

Alterations are made here in the US, at fair labor prices.

Of course you're going to find alterations pricy compared to the clothing you got for nothing made by little hands in Chinese factories who barely have enough to keep body and soul together.


PERSPECTIVE.

I only alter things I but at the thrift store. Everything else is too expensive.

If you have an excellent tailor, please share name and location. Thanks!

Bridesmaid dress - $150. I appreciate the free alterations at Nordstrom if you have the card.

Great thread!

I have a spin off question: what tailoring tasks are the easiest (and hopefully cheapest) to do?

I'm asking because I've considered getting some clothes tailored but don't know anything about sewing and how easy or hard a certain tailoring task is. For example, I would like to have bust darts and/or waist darts added to shirts to make them fit my hourglass figure better. Is that hard to do? Has anyone had that done and, if so, how much did it cost?

I paid $160 for alterations to the wedding dress I bought from eBay for $100, which included taking in the waist, adjusting something with the skirt, and sewing in the strapless bra/bustier I had purchased separately from a lingerie store near downtown (which IIRC was also $160).

I also paid $100 to have the wrinkles steamed out of it before the wedding, which made the total cost of my $100 dress over $500, but I was really happy with it!

Slightly different, but I paid $140 to have the shaft of a pair of gold boots narrowed to fit my calves. Because of the construction of the seams, it required a thin strip of extra gold leather to hide the repair. Not something I could have DIY-ed!

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know what the going rate is to add pockets to a dress or skirt?

Before the pandemic, I paid $35 to $40 at an expensive but convenient dry cleaners in NW. I have to really love an item to buy it if it doesn't have pockets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do my own because I can sew. Typically, I will let the hem down or tighten up the arm holes on a sleeveless top or dress. Tailoring is expensive and it’s time consuming.

Same, fine with tightening up armholes etc. The only problem is finding time to do it. I have a pile of clothes waiting for me to alter them.

Which is why it's worth paying for. I can also snake a drain, but I'll pay much more for that work, and it requires less skill.

$400 for two Dior bar jackets.

Wedding dress alterations routinely cost more than the dress.

Anyone know what the going rate is to add pockets to a dress or skirt?