My thoughts on the fit of The Shirt are in comment 7 to yesterday’s post. Today, I made a trip to my amazing tailor, Stanislav Ros, to see if The Shirt could be altered to fit my shoulders and waist.
The good news: It can be done!
The bad news: It’s expensive. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
I love having someone who takes my questions seriously and doesn’t dismiss them out of hand. He pointed out that tailors who don’t work with shirts on a daily basis are less likely to take on a project like this because it’s more difficult for them. Here is what Mr. Ros would do to make it fit:
- Add waist darts in the front. $25
- Add waist darts in the back. $25 (These aren’t absolutely necessary, but once you’re spending on everything else, what’s another $25?)
- Move the entire sleeve up to shorten the length, re-cut the shirt at the arm hole to make it smaller (to fit the now smaller diameter of the sleeve) and to make the shoulder fit properly, and add a bust dart. $95
Grand total: $88 shirt + $145 alterations = $233
I know it sounds crazy, but it could be worth it–especially if you found a bargain on the original shirt. Alternatively, some of you are skilled knitters and sewers and could make these alterations yourself. Lucky.
Interesting. It seems getting a shirt custom-made to fit would be worth it rather than starting from one that doesn't fit – wouldn't that result in a better shirt overall?
I did read your posts on custom shirts and tailoring a while back and poked around on the internet but it seems to me that $233 would be inline with those prices.
Frustrating really that by a roll of the DNA dice, figures like ours are expensive to clothe in well-fitting clothes.
I'm a very skilled knitter, but there's no way I could do any of that sewing stuff! 😛
I know a $233 shirt sounds crazy, but I have really bought into the "cost per wear" equation. The dress I'm wearing right now I've worn once every two weeks, if not more, all winter long. I can justify paying a lot for this dress. And I think if it's your perfect, go to shirt, $233 is definitely on the high side, but it could be justified…
I've been thinking the same thing, Melissa. You could wear a shirt like this once a week, and if you wash it after every wearing, it should last a long time.
Momraths, you may be right about starting from scratch instead of going with alterations. However, one thing to consider is that many custom shirt makers require that you order a minimum number of shirts. I wonder if Mr. Ros would reduce the price per shirt if I brought him several of the same shirt so that he could cut everything at once.
We sure are expensive to clothe! But since we really have to think about each clothing investment we make, hopefully we make good choices. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case for me. Insideoutstyleblog has a really good post about this here: http://www.insideoutstyleblog.com/2011/03/are-you-weapon-of-mass-consumption.html
Don't bother with eh alterations this shirt will not fit true large busted women. It is still made for size 4.
Don't bother with alternations the shirt will not fit true large busted women – made for size 4 with A cup.