Alteration Blues

[jonny2box]

Just trying to sound the board for some advice here.
I treated myself to a nice pair of PT01 travel pants.
They were on 50% sale 179$ instead of 350$ (Canada)

Went to a fairly reputable (in the top 3) tailor (not dry cleaner) place in town - Montreal.
And when I went to pick them up they were clearly 1" too short from the measurement we took during the fitting. What I think happened is they cut them at the chalk line and forgot they had to add the hem which gobbled up another 1". They apologize say that they can still lower them 3/4" and have them ready in another couple days. OK

Go back to pick them up, the length is good, they added a bit of basting material on the inside, but no big deal. But when they pulled the stitches from the previous job, they now put two little holes in the material at the bottom of one of the pant legs.

I have the worst luck with tailors screwing up what should be simple alterations ...
What would be an appropriate course of action here ? or an appropriate resolution ?
I have a feeling they will say sometimes the sewing needs snags a thread going through and it's not their fault. But it still looks like it was picked and torn with the stitch puller.

I keep kicking myself for not giving it to the high-end men's store to do the alteration. At least if they screw it up they can replace the pants. But I've had bad luck with in-store alterations as well.

 

[paxonus]

Just trying to sound the board for some advice here.
I treated myself to a nice pair of PT01 travel pants.
They were on 50% sale 179$ instead of 350$ (Canada)

Went to a fairly reputable (in the top 3) tailor (not dry cleaner) place in town - Montreal.
And when I went to pick them up they were clearly 1" too short from the measurement we took during the fitting. What I think happened is they cut them at the chalk line and forgot they had to add the hem which gobbled up another 1". They apologize say that they can still lower them 3/4" and have them ready in another couple days. OK

Go back to pick them up, the length is good, they added a bit of basting material on the inside, but no big deal. But when they pulled the stitches from the previous job, they now put two little holes in the material at the bottom of one of the pant legs.

I have the worst luck with tailors screwing up what should be simple alterations ...
What would be an appropriate course of action here ? or an appropriate resolution ?
I have a feeling they will say sometimes the sewing needs snags a thread going through and it's not their fault. But it still looks like it was picked and torn with the stitch puller.

I keep kicking myself for not giving it to the high-end men's store to do the alteration. At least if they screw it up they can replace the pants. But I've had bad luck with in-store alterations as well.

I use a dry cleaner for doing this sort of work, as it is inexpensive and almost impossible to mess up provided you do the following. I pin them up myself to the correct length before I take them to the cleaner. That leaves no room for error. On the other hand, if I want a cuff, I do it myself since there is no need for hiding the stitching.

 

[adrianvo]

Learn to sew. I did years ago, because my country isn't exactly known for good tailors.
They're expensive and none of them have a professional background of any sort.

Can't even imagine how much money I've saved on it, and mistakes avoided by bad tailors.

 

[dieworkwear]

Learn to sow.

 

[adrianvo]

View attachment 1604760

Edited.
I speak four languages, and English is not my mother's tongue. Spelling mistakes are to be expected.

 

[BPL Esq]

Edited.
I speak four languages, and English is not my mother's tongue. Spelling mistakes are to be expected.

We set these devious little traps in English so we can all have a chuckle.

 

[jonny2box]

This thread took an unexpected turn ! Haha

-besides learning how to be a farmer ... or learning to sew.

What are normal resolutions or courses of action in these situations ?
Just shrug it off as a loss ?
Again ... I'm already burning through all the alterations places in town.

- Eton shirt where a tailor cut the sleeves too short,
- Rota pants where when widening the waist the tailor had to detach the center belt loops and gloriously ripped the material underneath.
- Even the 'fine tailors' at Harry Rosen managed to screw up a jacket lining by putting a full twist in the arm sleeve.

Most tailors have just shrugged it off, apologized and said they would refund the 15$ job.

 

[breakaway01]

I would certainly be unhappy at how this turned out. The holes are visible and should not happen during rehemming. They can be repaired by reweaving but this is not inexpensive. You probably don’t have much leverage here but I’d ask whether they would pay for reweaving to repair the holes that they caused by this poor work.

 

[lfd75]

If you are willing to go to the West Island I can recommend an excellent tailor and a few excellent seamstresses. Also have you checked out "alterations Paul" in Phillips Square? He did some work for me a few years ago and have no complains.

 

[jonny2box]

Alteration Paul is next on my list to try out. Thanks for the recommendation.

-I'm also on the West Island, so wouldn't mind hearing some recommendations.

 

[jonny2box]

I would certainly be unhappy at how this turned out. The holes are visible and should not happen during rehemming. They can be repaired by reweaving but this is not inexpensive. You probably don’t have much leverage here but I’d ask whether they would pay for reweaving to repair the holes that they caused by this poor work.

Thanks - That's what I was hoping to hear ..
Can anyone else chime in from experience that this shouldn't have been damaged in a simple rehemming job ?

 

[dieworkwear]

Thanks - That's what I was hoping to hear ..
Can anyone else chime in from experience that this shouldn't have been damaged in a simple rehemming job ?

If you're talking about the two big holes here, then no, this should not have happened.

The small holes are normal for this type of fabric.

Personally, I would not bother with a reweaving. I also wouldn't bother trying to resolve this with the tailor. Would just find a new tailor for future jobs.

 

[breakaway01]

My only other comment is that if these are dress trousers, the more common hem would be a blind stitch. This stitch would be expected on casual trousers.

 

[efta]

Yeah, im just going to agree with the rest of the crowd here; apart from maybe the learning to sew part as that shouldn't be necessary. I say shouldn't - but the state of the alteration tailors trade these days is really poor.

A month ago or so I handed in three trousers to be hemmed at the same time at a local alterations tailor who, despite very clear instructions, left the trousers about 5cm too long. Sure, its better than being too short, but now im out 100 bucks or whatever and still have three pairs of unusable trousers.

 

[lfd75]

Alteration Paul is next on my list to try out. Thanks for the recommendation.

-I'm also on the West Island, so wouldn't mind hearing some recommendations.

Al the tailor in Plaza Pointe-Claire is very good. He runs a small shop with his daughter and another seamstress. I used his services for the eight years that I lived in the WI. Also the seamstresses at the “Singer“ repair shop in DDO (Blue Haven strip mall next to Menchies) are all very good but Cristina is the best. I’ve used them for shortening sleeves, waist supression, and tapering pants.