The Struggle is Real: How to Guarantee Ready-to-Wear Will Fit
How many of you have found a dress or pair of jeans in a store or online that you loved, tried them on only to find that they did not fit in some way? The dress fit in the bust but was too small in the hips when you tried your usual size 6, while your bust swam in a size 8 but fit your hips?
News flash: ready-to-wear does not mean ready-to-fit. Clothing companies use patterns that are a rough cut of their average shoppers; they fit no one perfectly. As an hourglass, dresses that fit my bust have too much fabric in the waist, and pants that fit my waist rarely pass over my hips. The key to guaranteeing that ready-to-wear will fit is simple: buy clothes in a size to fit the widest area of your body and have them tailored to fit everywhere else. You can either take your clothes to a tailor or alter them yourself.
Pre-alterations: I look like a tweed lampshade
Last month I started a job that requires a lot of time in court so I added a new suit to my wardrobe, which I bought from J. Crew: a size 4 blazer and a size 2 skirt. The skirt fit perfectly, while the blazer flared out at the waist, which I expected because I read the reviews before purchasing.
Did I send it back? No, it is a lovely black and white tweed suit that I can mix and match with other pieces in my closet, so I took it to a local tailor for alterations. My tailor took the blazer in at the waist and now it fits like a glove and less like a lampshade. This is a piece I will wear over and over again so I had no qualms about spending a little extra on alterations.
Post-alterations
With the exception of pants, Hilary tailors her clothes herself. Recently, she altered an Allen Schwartz dress she purchased for a wedding. Although she followed the size guide, the fit and flare cut was too large on top. The simple pattern, with two darts in front, meant Hilary only had to take in the side seams of the top. Hilary was all about DIY for this project.
When I asked her how she did it, she said she measured how much she would take it in, then split it between the two side seams to ensure the dress sat evenly. She then sewed the seams under the lining of the dress, to allow for a professional finish. Hilary is a bad-ass when it comes to sewing, so it was an easy fix for her, but I was nonetheless impressed.
Whether you sew or have to farm-out to a tailor, alterations are a common. If you're serious about adding quality pieces to your wardrobe, you should expect to alter almost everything. When you find a piece worthy of your micro-closet, buy it in a size that will fit the widest part of your body and have it altered where necessary. It will make all the difference.