Put This On

Q and Answer: Can Pleats Be Removed From Pants?

James writes: I have two suits that I bought on sale a few years ago.  I still love the fabric and the cut of the jackets, but the pants are pleated, and I find that I am not wearing them because I don’t enjoy wearing pleated pants anymore.  I feel like if they were flat-front pants I would have two more suits in the closet.  Can a tailor take the pleats out of pants?

Yes, a tailor can take the pleats out of pants.  It’s pretty major surgery, though, so I would only trust it to a solid tailor, not an alterationist. 

For reverse pleats (those whose mouth opens to the outside), this involves removing the waistband, opening the pleat then re-cutting the side seam and pocket.  For forward pleats, it’s even more complicated.  Some tailors will replace the pleat with a dart, which is pretty weird.  We’re not really cool with that, frankly.

Because it’s such a complicated job (you’re essentially having the tailor re-cut the pants), it generally costs about $50-75.

Q and Answer: Can A Tailor Make It Bigger?

Mike writes: This week, while doing a little vintage shopping at my local thrift store, I discovered a sharp Harris tweed sport coat among the discarded and otherwise cheap-looking jackets. Although the fit was a little snug, given its condition, I couldn’t turn down the $8 price tag, especially since I’m in the process of losing some extra weight anyway. But pot belly or not, the sleeves are still about an inch too short — something that even the best diet won’t fix. In a typical coat, how much extra fabric is there for a tailor to work with, and is it even possible to lengthen sleeves, or any other part of the garment?

Generally, a tailor can’t do much to make clothes bigger.  Good pants usually have an inch or two in the waist to give, but most coat enlargements are impossible.  Even if there’s a bit of fabric available, it can change the shape of the coat in an undesirable way.

Luckily for you, sometimes letting sleeves out is an exception.  You can roll the fabric at the cuff between your fingers to feel whether there’s any extra fabric in there.  Remember that you can only extend it by whatever fabric is folded back inside the lining - the stuff immediately inside the cuff, before the lining starts, needs to be there.  If you’re not sure, you can always take it to the tailor and ask.  Usually half an inch or even an inch is available.

One pitfall to be aware of when trying this maneuver: older coats can get wear at the very end of their sleeves.  This changes the texture of the fabric, and results in a visual line.  Shorten the sleeves, and this line is on the inside where it’s invisible.  Lengthen the sleeve, and the line creeps up the sleeve (relatively) and starts to look like some sort of military insignia.  Make sure there isn’t major wear along that edge before you try anything.

Q and Answer: Finding a Tailor

Justin writes: I just finished reading your latest post about the money spent at a tailor.  My brother and I were actually just talking about finding ourselves a tailor earlier today, and so I had a question for you.  Is there anyway to tell a good tailor from a bad tailor before you spend the money? I had a pair of pants shortened at a tailoring franchise in my local mall and they didn’t turn out anything like I expected and I found another tailor but felt like they were maybe charging too much ($35 CDN for darting a shirt?) and so now we are looking at taking our clothes to one of two tailors and are not sure what exactly to look for.

It can be tough to find a great tailor.  I myself just went to the one closest to my house - it worked out well.  Of course, the next time I tried that, a seamstress loused up the simple job of putting buttons on a coat.  Luckily, I’d chosen a cheap and simple job for the first go-round, and the damage was inexpensive to fix.

So, how do you find one?  There are a few ways.

The first thing I’d do is head over to StyleForum.net and AskAndyAboutClothes.com and try the search function.  The denizens of both sites are knowledgeable and care about good tailoring, and if you’re lucky, someone has stopped in before, looking for a tailor in your town. 

Failing that, I’d call the men’s department of the best retail store in your region and ask who they use.  If there’s a traditional men’s clothing store, like Cable Car Clothiers in San Francisco or Carrol & Co. in Los Angeles, all the better. 

Failing that, there’s always the combination of Yelp and small jobs.  The first time you ask for something bigger, make sure it’s on something relatively expendable.  The first major surgery my tailor did was on a coat I’d bought for $15 at the Goodwill.  I figured it was worth the $40 to find out if he was any good.  The answer was: he was pretty good.

Good tailors are overwhelmingly men (there are good female tailors, but most women doing tailoring are really dressmakers or alterations who don’t turn down business from men), they tend to be older (since tailoring isn’t exactly a growth field), and they’re often immigrants.  Sometimes they’re friendly, sometimes they’re not.  Usually their workspaces are a crazy mess, or in a weird place.  Start small, and work your way up.  Hopefully you’ll find someone good.

Q and Answer

Jordan writes:

I just bought a navy blue blazer from a thrift store.  The blazer came with old brass buttons that I’ll have to be replace.  Will I be better to replace them with new brass buttons or dark navy blue buttons?

The blue blazer is a classic menswear staple.  It pairs well with almost anything and is appropriate for almost any occasion that doesn’t call for a suit.  That said, the classic brass buttons can look a little fogeyish.  If you’re wearing them to your country club for a soiree, maybe that’s appropriate, but we’re not crazy about the idea.

Navy buttons (as seen on Kenneth, above) are fine, but they can, in some cases, make the coat look like an orphaned suit jacket.  We like a natural bone color, which will go nicely with brown shoes and is pretty neutral.  If you’re a bit more adventurous, a white bone or horn button also looks really cool.

You can find button sets pretty easily (and cheaply) on Ebay or at a local fabric store.  Your tailor or alterationist will likely charge about a dollar a button to switch them out for you.

While you’re on Ebay, by the way, be sure to check out blazer button sets in precious metals (silver and gold!) and for odd clubs and organizations.  You may not belong to the New York Fencing Society, but it might be kind of cool to have thier buttons on your thrift store blazer.

Q and Answer

Alan writes to ask:I bought a nice vintage suit on eBay a little while ago. The jacket fits nicely (although the sleeves could be taken down a smidgen) but the vest is a little snug. The pants are also quite tight and although this is the fashion for most people in my age group, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to dressing; your clothes should actually fit.  Is it possible for a tailor to loosen the vest and the pants so that they would fit?

Let’s unpack this.

First of all, pants fashion should be (and largely is) about cut, not size.  Some pants are designed to be fuller in the hips or legs, some to be slimmer.  If they don’t fit at the waist, no pant will be attractive, be it slim or large and drapey.  So perhaps your anger is misplaced?

As far as what a tailor can and cannot do: the main thing a tailor cannot do is create cloth where there is none.  Which is why it’s always easier for them to make something smaller than make something bigger.

Typically, pants will have a little bit of cloth inside what tailors call “the buttzone.”  If there’s an inch or two there, your tailor can probably take out the waist by an inch or two.  This is often the case for jacket sleeves as well - you can use your fingers to feel how far back that fabric goes and get a sense of how much you might be able to extend the sleeves.

The vest, however, will be trickier.  There may be some cloth reserved for expansions, but it strikes me as unlikely.  Bring it to your tailor and ask.  You can also replace the silk back piece and liner with one slightly larger, but that’s no small job.

A Trip to the Tailor

I found my tailor the old fashioned way: by passing by while I was walking my dog.  Having a relationship with a tailor is an immense help to any man who wants to dress well — whether he’s a fancy-pants fella making bespoke suiting on Saville Row, or, like mine, a friendly Korean immigrant and his wife whose main work seems to be making Nancy Reagan-like suits for middle-aged Korean ladies who lunch.

I just got back from picking up an order, and I thought you might be interested in what a guy who doesn’t get his suits made at Norton & Sons does there.  So in that spirit, here’s what I got done:

• I recently scored a pair of Incotex corduroys in a golden wheat color from Loehmann’s for $29.  They needed to be finished, so my tailor marked their length and finished them without cuffs.
• I purchased two pairs of pants from Ebay recently.  The first was a lovely black watch plaid wool pair, which was probably from the 60s or 70s, but had never been worn or even hemmed.  I had him put some big (1.75”) cuffs on them for me.  Ten bucks or so.
• The second pair was a beautiful part of black and gray houndstooth checked pants from the old Abercrombie & Fitch.  It turned out when they showed up that they were made by Oxxford Clothes in Chicago, probably the highest-quality American ready-to-wear clothier.  They needed to be shortened a bit, so we took care of that.  About $10.
• I bought a pair of J. Crew cords when I was a bit wider at the waist.  They’re not the world’s finest pair of pants, but who doesn’t love chocolate brown corduroy in the fall, so rather than give them to Goodwill, I figured they were worth the $10 and had the waist taken in an inch or two.  About $10.
• A lovely Facconable sportcoat I’d bought at a thrift store had been just a bit short for me in the sleeves, so I had them taken down a little.  I misjudged how the buttons would look, and they were about one button’s-width too high.  I wanted to move the top button down below the bottom, but my tailor told me he couldn’t move just one button down without moving all the buttons - his hand-stitched buttonhole wouldn’t match the machine-stitched ones that were already there.  Buttonholes aren’t too expensive, but 8 of them adds up to about $40.  I compromised - I had him stitch the new buttonhole in a contrasting color.  Cheaper for me, and a little bit of flair.  I was happy with the result.  About $10.
• I had a piece of patterned wool that my mother had found at an estate sale - about 3 or 4 yards.  I’ve been holding on to it forever, and I finally got it together to make it into something: a pair of pants.  I love Oxxford’s half-waistband style, and the A&F pants fit me wonderfully, so I had my tailor copy them, with big cuffs to finish them off.  It may be the first real item of clothing I’ve commissioned, besides a tie for my wedding and pajamas from my mom when I was little, and I’m very happy with what I got.  This was (obviously) the most expensive, but still only cost me $120 (my mom payed a couple dollars for the fabric).

It all cost me less than $200 out the door, and I got five pairs of pants and a sportcoat that fit me perfectly, and look just how I’d like them to.

Tailors are not just for rich guys!

(horrible photos courtesy of my iPhone; Australia-themed tablecloth courtesy of someone who went to Australia, bought a tablecloth, never used it, then died and left it to someone who sold it to me for a dollar)