Shall I get my clothes altered?

[MaMight]

I've lost some weight. Now my clothes look dreadful because they're all too big. I can't wear half my wardrobe (and I don't really have many clothes to begin with).

I was thinking of getting my trousers and skirts taken in.

1. Can someone who knows about sewing and dressmaking tell me if that would work? Would it look okay or would things be weirdly shaped and obviously altered?

1. What if I put on weight again??

[tulpe]

Congratulations on losing the weight

How many dress sizes have you moved down? Need to know because that will affect whether things can easily be altered or not and if they will actually look okay downsized.

A-line skirts are the simplest things to alter and re-size (if unlined will be a case of re-stitching seams on each side and cutting off the excess. I have successfully done in the past when losing weight after pregnancy.

Trousers: again, depends on the cut. I would imagine that wide leg trousers with flat fronts are easier to alter than anything with pleats or more fitted.

One thing I will say is that sometimes getting clothes altered can be as expensive as buying new. Our local tailor charges £25 for taking in trousers so unless you really love them and cannot bear to part from them, I would think again. Some dry cleaners do alterations too and they will be cheaper than a tailor.

[Amandoh]

I think it'd be worth getting your expensive and timeless pieces altered. Don't bother with the high street stuff unless you absolutely can't live without it.

Take all the clothes that are now too big to the charity shop or sell them on Ebay to fund your new wardrobe.

Only have clothes in your wardrobe that fit the new slimmer you. It's a great incentive for keeping the weight you lost off.

[MaMight]

tHANK YOU

I've gone from a 16 to a 12.

I'm not in UK and tailoring is quite cheap out here.

I don't own any expensive or timeless pieces . Just highstreet tat and hand-me-downs. I'm really not terribly good with clothes .

In fact, I was going to buy some fabric and get some things copied (again, pretty cheap out here) but when I went through my wardrobe I realised that I do not have one single item of clothing that fits well and is nice enough to get copied. Not one!

I find clothes depressing.

Right. A couple of A-line skirts are now unwearable because they fall down and show my pants and they drag on the floor. Will take them for starters.

Have got a pair of trousers that I loved. Will ask about them. Cotton and flat-fronted, so maybe?

Then there are some skinny capri pants that would be great for going out but I have to double a load of material over at the back and secure with a belt. Not ideal. I think they're a size 18 though. I've never been an 18 but my SIL was getting rid of a load of clothes and I am terrible at saying no.

I have some nice dresses that fit but they're stretchy (knit cotton?) material so no good for copying I don't think.