Stylish Dad
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Learning how to tailor my own clothes quite literally changed my life forever, and I'm confident it can change yours too. This thread is for everyone who wants to learn how to do so, and I will give a description of the process paired along with a video example for the visual learners (like myself). I'm not a tailor or a seamstress, nor do I have any sort of background in this. I don't have a background in anything actually, I'm just a guy who got tired of wearing Ill-fitting clothes, got a shirt tailored professionally, and realized how much wearing clothes that fit well transformed almost every aspect of my life. No more baggy dress shirts!!!! So if you've lost weight, are too tall, or too short for "mainstream" clothing sizes then this is for you! Mass produced clothes are made to fit everyone, and because of that they don't fit anyone, so don't worry it's not your fault. Companies are more interested in profits then making sure you look and feel good in your clothes. Let's change that.
**How to find a reliable (and INEXPENSIVE) sewing machine -**
Let's start at the very beginning, you wanna learn but you've never TOUCHED a sewing machine before, and you don't know where to look? You have two options, get a used one or a new one. Both have their pros and cons, and here's a video explaining where to look and what to look for (and what not to look for). There are the obvious brands like Singer and Brother, but they can be spendy, even used. They're definitely worth the money though! I use a used machine, which I absolutely love but the downside to buying used it it might not have been cared for. They're like used cars, you wanna look for one that was maintained, trust me!
**Threading it and winding your bobbin -**
You got your machine and you're ready to CRUSH IT in your tailored clothes but whoa there cowboy, you need to thread it and wind your bobbin first. Don't panic, it seems difficult but it isn't! The amazing thing is sewing machines show you EXACTLY how to thread it and where. My machine has numbers 1-4 with arrows showing me where to thread the thread. Your bobbin is what makes up your bottom stitch. It can seem complicated to wind it but it's pretty straight forward, and the even better part is you don't have to create one every single time you sew. They last a pretty long time, and the only time I need to change mine are when my thread runs out or I change colors, so once every...3-4 garments maybe? Here's a video explaining both processes in more detail.
**MASTER your machine in...5 minutes? -**
So you got your machine and got it threaded without punching a hole in a wall! Good! But wait, how do you even use this thing? Well sewing machines can do a TON of things, but when you want to use them to make your clothes look better you only need to know a handful of settings. You need to know what kind of stitches to use, when, and why. You're probably thinking "wait...5 minutes?!" Yes, 5 minutes. You're just making new seams not creating quilts.
**Tailoring a terribly fitting dress shirt-** -
Literally the Bane of my existence and the sole reason why I learned to tailor in the first place. I found a shirt for $6.90 at the hottest designer spot around, the Target clearance rack! It fits like a tent of course, so I altered the body and the sleeves of this one. What's awesome is lets say you sew it and you're not happy with the fit? Lets say you could have taken more off of the body to make it slimmer? Well that's not a big deal at all, in fact that's exactly what happened with this shirt. All you do is line your machine up on the seam that you made, and angle it inwards by a quarter to a half of an inch. Or let's say you sewed it and now it's way too tight? OH GOD YOU RUINED IT!! Nah, you didn't at all actually. All you do is grab your seam ripper and rip the seam out, good as new, as if you had never done a thing to it. The bad news is you have to start over. I've done that a lot...
**Tailoring a terribly fitting EXPENSIVE dress shirt-**
It's easy to tailor something that you didn't pay much money for, because if you ruin it then it's not gonna break the bank. But what if you paid $50-$100 for your shirt? I got this shirt from Express and I paid a lot more for it than I (almost ever) do for my dress shirts. One thing I noticed off the bat is the fact that it's an amazing shirt! The fabric is INCREDIBLY soft and it has a slimmer fit off the rack already (but come on guys, we can do better). Two things that I pointed out in that video are the fact that there is a flat fell seam on the side of this shirt. They feel great because they don't rub up against you like other seams can. The downside to these seams is they can roll around when you're trying to measure them. So just iron it down first, problem solved! The second thing is that the pattern doesn't match up on the side seams. It's not a big deal, it's just what happens when you slim a shirt with a pattern. As you can see, it's JUST as easy to tailor something that cost you $100 as it is something that cost $20. Price isn't a huge factor at all. Remember how much you hated dress shirt muffin top? I did too, and now you and I don't have to worry about that ever again.
**How to find a reliable (and INEXPENSIVE) sewing machine -**
Let's start at the very beginning, you wanna learn but you've never TOUCHED a sewing machine before, and you don't know where to look? You have two options, get a used one or a new one. Both have their pros and cons, and here's a video explaining where to look and what to look for (and what not to look for). There are the obvious brands like Singer and Brother, but they can be spendy, even used. They're definitely worth the money though! I use a used machine, which I absolutely love but the downside to buying used it it might not have been cared for. They're like used cars, you wanna look for one that was maintained, trust me!
**Threading it and winding your bobbin -**
You got your machine and you're ready to CRUSH IT in your tailored clothes but whoa there cowboy, you need to thread it and wind your bobbin first. Don't panic, it seems difficult but it isn't! The amazing thing is sewing machines show you EXACTLY how to thread it and where. My machine has numbers 1-4 with arrows showing me where to thread the thread. Your bobbin is what makes up your bottom stitch. It can seem complicated to wind it but it's pretty straight forward, and the even better part is you don't have to create one every single time you sew. They last a pretty long time, and the only time I need to change mine are when my thread runs out or I change colors, so once every...3-4 garments maybe? Here's a video explaining both processes in more detail.
**MASTER your machine in...5 minutes? -**
So you got your machine and got it threaded without punching a hole in a wall! Good! But wait, how do you even use this thing? Well sewing machines can do a TON of things, but when you want to use them to make your clothes look better you only need to know a handful of settings. You need to know what kind of stitches to use, when, and why. You're probably thinking "wait...5 minutes?!" Yes, 5 minutes. You're just making new seams not creating quilts.
**Tailoring a terribly fitting dress shirt-** -
Literally the Bane of my existence and the sole reason why I learned to tailor in the first place. I found a shirt for $6.90 at the hottest designer spot around, the Target clearance rack! It fits like a tent of course, so I altered the body and the sleeves of this one. What's awesome is lets say you sew it and you're not happy with the fit? Lets say you could have taken more off of the body to make it slimmer? Well that's not a big deal at all, in fact that's exactly what happened with this shirt. All you do is line your machine up on the seam that you made, and angle it inwards by a quarter to a half of an inch. Or let's say you sewed it and now it's way too tight? OH GOD YOU RUINED IT!! Nah, you didn't at all actually. All you do is grab your seam ripper and rip the seam out, good as new, as if you had never done a thing to it. The bad news is you have to start over. I've done that a lot...
**Tailoring a terribly fitting EXPENSIVE dress shirt-**
It's easy to tailor something that you didn't pay much money for, because if you ruin it then it's not gonna break the bank. But what if you paid $50-$100 for your shirt? I got this shirt from Express and I paid a lot more for it than I (almost ever) do for my dress shirts. One thing I noticed off the bat is the fact that it's an amazing shirt! The fabric is INCREDIBLY soft and it has a slimmer fit off the rack already (but come on guys, we can do better). Two things that I pointed out in that video are the fact that there is a flat fell seam on the side of this shirt. They feel great because they don't rub up against you like other seams can. The downside to these seams is they can roll around when you're trying to measure them. So just iron it down first, problem solved! The second thing is that the pattern doesn't match up on the side seams. It's not a big deal, it's just what happens when you slim a shirt with a pattern. As you can see, it's JUST as easy to tailor something that cost you $100 as it is something that cost $20. Price isn't a huge factor at all. Remember how much you hated dress shirt muffin top? I did too, and now you and I don't have to worry about that ever again.
