Recommended Tailor in Baltimore?

[Beatlegeuse]

Hi everyone, I tried searching on the forum for a good answer to this question, but I came up empty. The last time the question was asked was about a year and a half ago, so I thought I would try my luck now to see if anyone has any good suggestions. There is a guy in a local shopping mall just north of the city that I take my stuff too if I need something simple done, like hemming the legs or taking in the waist on a pair of trousers. But, I just got a new suit where the jacket needs the sleeves to be shortened and the waist to be suppressed a bit, and I'm a little worried about taking it to my usual guy.

I really would prefer not to drive all the way to DC to find a decent tailor, so anything closer to Baltimore would be great. In an old thread someone mentioned that there was a Bespoke Tailor in the Columbia Mall. Does anyone have experience with that place? I looked it up online, it's called "Custom Tailor of Columbia" but I couldn't find any customer reviews.

 

[KObalto]

If you're referring to London Tailors in White Marsh, I've had Mister Lee take up sleeves from the shoulders successfully. I haven't tried him for waist suppression, though. I'd love to find a great tailor hereabouts.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

Originally Posted by KObalto

If you're referring to London Tailors in White Marsh, I've had Mister Lee take up sleeves from the shoulders successfully. I haven't tried him for waist suppression, though. I'd love to find a great tailor hereabouts.

Yep, Mr. Lee is the guy I'm referring to. I haven't had any problems with him on anything else I brought in...there were a couple times that he hemmed my pants a little too short, but when I came back to try them on, he noticed they were too short and fixed them free of charge. So for all intents and purposes, I think he does a pretty good job, I was just a little wary about bringing in an expensive suit to some guy in a mall. Considering I've been able to trust him to do a good job on everything I've brought to him so far, I think I will try to bring this suit to him to see what he can do...unless someone else can recommend a really great tailor in the area.

 

[KObalto]

He's done routine alterations on some very nice suits I have brought him (Isaia, RLP made in Italy, thrifted Oxxfords) and all has gone well: taking in the waist, seat, hemming sleeves and pants, putting on sleeve buttons, replacing jacket buttons with horn ones and all has gone well. He's also taken 2 jackets up at the shoulders due to working buttonholes successfully as I mentioned. I haven't tried him for anything like suppression or pants slimming though.
I, too, had some trouble with pants hemming as well. I brought him some cotton Incotex, when I tried them on at home, they were almost 2 inches too short. He insisted I must have laundered them, which I hadn't, but fixed them for free. There was barely enough fabric left to do so, though.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

^^ Thanks for the info on your experiences with Mr. Lee. Wow, you're lucky you had enough fabric left on those Incotex to have them let out again. The only ones I had to have him fix were some wool Mabitex, and there was still plenty of fabric left under the hem for him to use.

I need to try my suit pants on again before I bring them in, they might need just a tiny bit of slimming too. Given that I don't really have many other options, I think I'll give him a shot with this suit. I'll try to bring it in tonight if I have a chance, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[MadTxn]

I've heard good things about Dobbin Tailor in Columbia. I haven't had any work done there though.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

^^ I've read similar posts from 2 years ago, but I don't know anyone that's actually gone there recently, so I'll stick with my guy for now.

I just dropped off 2 suits with Mr. Lee at London Custom Tailor today today, here's what I needed to get done:

Suit 1:

Pants - take in waist, hem legs
Jacket - slight waist suppression

Suit 2:

Pants - slim legs, hem
Jacket - waist suppression, shorten sleeves, shoulder surgery (not sure how to say this...the shoulder pads were too big and bulky for my liking, so I had him cut the pad out and put a smaller one in so it will slope right down my shoulder line instead of jutting out)

That's a lot of work, but he will have it all done by next Friday, Feb 4. I'll give another update when I pick everything up!

 

[WhateverYouLike]

I used the Tiny Tailor in Mt Vernon and was fairly happy with the work done overall, although she's really bad with deadlines - would delay weeks past the date promised at times. Quality was solid, though. Even shortened a jacket with working buttonholes for 45 bucks successfully.

 

[BaltimoreArsenal]

I recently had some work done at Dobbin Custom Tailor in Columbia. This was the first time that I've had work done in the area. I received an Aquascutum 44R blazer for Christmas, but wear a 42R. Although Mr. Song doesn't say much, he is certainly a professional. Very happy with the result. Jacket was shortened and brought in. Price was a bit steep at $70, but i've gotten lots of use out of the jacket in the last month and it has been a good investment thus far. Interested to hear about your experience at London Custom Tailor, as I am always on the lookout for places in the area as well.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

Thanks to WhateverYouLike and BaltimoreArsenal for sharing your experiences. It's good to know there are some other options out there. But if Mr. Lee can do a good job with my two suits, I think I will stick with him for now. He's really friendly, and I've brought enough stuff there that he recognizes me now...he doesn't even need to see my receipt anymore, and as soon as I walk in he'll grab my stuff and hand it to me before I even ask him for it.

I didn't have much experience with tailors before him, but so far it seems like he's been really good to sticking with deadlines and he prices aren't too high. For all the work I listed in my last post, which includes multiple alterations on both the trousers and jackets for 2 suits, it's going to cost me about $180.

I'm still new to tailored clothing, and the only other tailor experience I have to draw on was waaaaay more expensive than London Custom Tailor. I forget the name, but it was north of the city, about 10 miles up on I-83 at the shops in Greensprings Station. I had 2 suit jackets and I wanted the waists taken in and the sleeves to be slimmed down. First they told me that it wasn't possible to slim the sleeves.

Then they wanted to charge me over $200 just for a little waist suppression on the 2 jackets. Mr. Lee is charging me less than that for about 4 times the work on these 2 suits I just brought him.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

***UPDATE***

Picked up my 2 suits last week, but I forgot to update this post. I have to say that Mr. Lee did a very good job for the price. The only issue I have is that it usually takes him 2 tries to get exactly what I want. I'll usually come back once, try everything on, then have him make some more tweaks, then I'll come back again and everything will fit very well. The good part is that he does the additional work for free

He was able to do some waist suppression on both of the jackets that came out great (1st try on one of the jackets, 2nd try on the other), and he fixed the bulky shoulderpads and sleeve length of one of the jackets. He also slimmed the legs of my trousers wonderfully...the one pair was very baggy (I've gotten used to wearing Mabitex and other slim trousers most days), and he slimmed the entire leg with a very nice taper at the bottom. But again, it took him 2 tries to properly slim the legs to the size that I wanted.

Overall a very good experience, and I will continue to take all my alterations to him.