Alteration Success by:Sylvia Leinweber

An important part of getting great alterations is to arrive at your fitting session prepared

, because no matter how skilled your seamstress may be, those skills won't be enough if certain issues are neglected. Following are a few suggestions that will guarantee you getting the best possible start with your alteration project.

For length adjustments, and this goes for women and men, bring the shoes that you're most likely to wear with the garment. This is most important for any type of jeans or slacks, but it will also give you a better perspective on the length of a skirt or dress.

Fitting formal wear will get you better results if you show up in or bring the same undergarments that you'll be wearing at the actual event. This is important any time, but is absolutely essential for any kind of strapless garment because a different style of bra can make your dress or top fit quite differently.

Here's one especially for the guys: if you need to have jacket sleeves altered, do wear or bring a dress shirt. It's the only way to ensure that your sleeves will be the perfect length, i.e. with just the right amount of shirtsleeve showing.

And finally, another vital bit of information: many fabrics shrink during their first washing and/or drying cycle. Therefore I strongly recommend that the garment is preshrunk in some way prior to alteration. Just do what you will be doing to it once it has been worn. If you are planning to wash it and dry it in the dryer, do so. If you are just washing and line drying, I suggest doing that. Even dry cleaning may result in some shrinkage due to chemical moisture and steam pressing, which suggests having the garment go through that process once to make sure it won't shrink later.

Not all fabrics shrink. A quick look at your garment content label will tell you whether you should take these extra precautions. The fabrics with the most shrinkage overall are rayon, linen, cotton and wool or a combination thereof. If your fabric has 60% or more polyester mixed in, it will tend to be a lot more stable.

About the author

Sylvia Leinweber is a seamstress and clothing designer from Albuquerque, New Mexico who owns her own boutique called Seams to You! In January 2009 she established the Seams to You! Online Boutique to make the fritzi leinweber brand available to customers around the world. To learn more about her and her clothing designs visit her site at http://www.SeamstoYou.com.

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