Tailors...

OK, here's my situation: I have old clothes of my own, I have clothes I've found at the many great vintage and consignment stores in town, and I have designer denim I need slightly altered. I need to find a tailor with an open mind, fashion sense, and imagination to re-tailor these things into fashionable, interesting clothes.

Any suggestions?

I use Expert Tailors near to Holiday Manor. It's right next to Karen, Of Course. They always do a great job with my pants. I've taken my Seven for all Mankind jeans there and they did a "tricky hem." Make sure you ask for that so they'll know. You wouldn't even know that my jeans have been hemmed.

Thanks! That's not that far for me. I have some APC and some SugarCane selvedge denim that would be ruined by a bad hem job. But I'm also wondering if they would be willing to take some chances restyling vintage stuff. I find things at Nitty Gritty and Cherry Bomb and Margaret's, etc. all the time that would be really cool with a cut here, a stitch there, but I wonder what kind of humor and adventurousness tailors have. Most I've dealt with (in Rochester NY) were dour old men with strange accents.

I'm not sure how creative they would be without you telling them exactly what you wanted done. They do stand by their work and if you're unhappy, they will make it right. I picked up three pairs of pants last week that ended up being too short. I took them back and they actually sewed the fabric back on that they had cut off and rehemmed them. They are as good as new! Let me know if you try them and how it goes.

2nd for Expert Tailors. They have done alot of salvage work on clothes we love and do excellent work.

Depending on how adventurous you are you might want to consider a fashion design student who would welcome the challenge and probably not cost an arm and a leg... just an outside the box thought. Good luck.

Thanks all for your advice. I finally took my jeans to Expert Tailors and Ms. Nguyen was delighted when I mentioned that folks here had recommended their work. I think I'll take an odd vintage jacket I found to her to test her skills (it's way cool, but too big, and I may want to try a serious design change)... I like Jo Self's idea of the design student (Where's Louisville's Christian or Jillian?). That would be a lot of fun. But where do you find fashion students?

Ken, I would think you could start with Sullivan and their Louisville Technical design school.

I just picked up my altered denim from Expert Tailors - APC and SugarCane, both selvedge - and am very pleased. She matched thread and style perfectly.

I'm still intrigued by the idea of working with a fashion student of revisioning some old things, but Sullivan doesn't offer fashion design... and I'm not sure anyone does in town. Am I wrong?

Louisville Technical Institute does offer fashion design, which is a part of Sullivan. I looked it up to make sure before I posted, because even as a proud Louisvillian, I get Spaulding and Spencerian confused from time to time.

Do you have a link to that department ( I can't find anything)... I want to find out if it's considered ethical to have students do private work like this... and if it is, find out where I can post a request...

I'll see what I can find out and get back to you...

Just a little tailoring update. I decided to take a sport jacket into Expert Tailors and have it re-configured. I bought a Brooks Brothers silk jacket at Margaret's for $10 (I love that place! It had been 49, then 25, then 10. If you have patience and are a gambler, you can wait out some things you want till they're almost free!) I got the shoulders reduced and pulled in, and had a more fashionable tuck taken in the middle. It cost me $85 and they did a perfect job. So that's 95 bucks for a personally tailored BB jacket. I think that's a deal.

I may have to check into them. I've recently lost a LOT of weight, and while most of the clothes are going to the Goodwill, there are a few pieces that I would like to keep and just have altered.