Hemming And Hawing

In the past, I have not usually been one to go for alterations on my clothing. I had a bad experience at an alterations place by my Mom's house with a pair of satiny black pants from Express. I insisted that they shorten the pants "just a little bit more", so that when I got them back, they looked like high waters, and sadly, crop pants were not in vogue at the time.

More recently, however, I decided to get back in the proverbial alterations saddle. I found a pair of lovely grey Caslon jeans at the thrift store (orginally from Nordstrom, perhaps?), but they had a 35 inch inseam. I am short of leg and long of torso, so they were mighty long on me. I decided to take them to NW Valet Drycleaners and Alterations on Greenwood and test my luck.

I brought the shoes that I wanted to wear with the jeans and tried the jeans on, showing my seamstress where I wanted them to fall. I did the "just a little bit shorter" bit again, but she wasn't having it. She talked me into making them longer than I thought they should be, which I was very nervous about.

When I went to pick up my trusty jeans, I tried them on again and voila! They fit like a glove and looked like they were made that length. It was $14 for the hemming, and now I have a pair of jeans that I can wear, instead of a pair to just hang decoratively in my closet.