Saree and lehenga alterations: what is possible, what is not

Alterations happen in the shop at 89/90 Parnell Street. There is no workroom in another county and no courier in the middle of it: the person who measures you finishes the garment. That matters, because most alteration problems are fitting problems.

The order is always the same: you tell us what bothers you, we look at the garment and quote before anything is cut, and nothing happens until you are happy with the figure. If a garment cannot be saved, we would rather say so than charge you for trying.

These are the jobs that come through the door most often, and the ones we are confident about.

• Hems and lengths. Kameez, kurti, abaya, lehenga, sharara, trousers and sleeves. This is the simplest alteration and usually the one that changes a garment most.
• Taking in. Bust, waist and hip on a kameez or kurti; the waistband of a lehenga; a saree blouse that gapes or pulls. This is done through the side seams and, where the garment has them, the darts.
• Letting out — within limits. A garment can only be let out as far as its seam allowances allow, and those vary from piece to piece. Sometimes there is a generous margin; sometimes there is almost none. We can tell you which after we open a seam, not before.
• Sleeves. Shortening, narrowing or reshaping is straightforward. Lengthening needs matching fabric, which is often the hard part.
• Necklines. A neckline can be reshaped a little — opened, raised, made less wide. The limit is the work around it: you cannot remove embroidery that is already there without leaving a trace.
• Blouses. A blouse can be re-stitched to your measurements, taken in or out, have its back closure changed, or have a lining added or replaced. If the blouse is the only thing wrong with a saree outfit, this is the cheapest fix in the shop.
• Linings, zips and fastenings. Replacing a concealed zip, reinforcing hooks, or adding a lining to a piece that needs one.
• Lehenga waistbands and cancans. Adjusting the waistband, shortening the skirt, or working on the cancan that gives a lehenga its shape.
• Finishing semi-stitched and unstitched pieces. A semi-stitched suit needs its sides closed and its fit finished; unstitched fabric needs a kameez and trouser cut. That is a different job from an alteration, and priced as one.

A good tailor will tell you when the answer is no.

• Letting a garment out past its seam allowance. Once the fabric is gone, it is gone. Between sizes, the smaller can often be let out; the larger cannot usually be taken in far before the shape changes.
• Resizing by several sizes. A garment moves a little, not a lot. Shoulders, armholes and neckline follow each other, and an over-worked piece ends up fitting nothing.
• Restructuring a heavily embroidered piece. Reworking a decorated sleeve or neckline can disturb the embroidery. We can do it; the result may not be invisible.
• Reweaving. A hole, pulled thread or missing embroidery cannot be woven back invisibly on most fabrics. It can sometimes be stabilised or covered with appliqué or a matching patch — a repair, not a miracle.
• Invisible repairs on sheer fabrics. Chiffon and fine net show every needle mark. A repair is usually visible up close; sometimes the honest answer is to leave it alone.
• Matching fabric for a panel or sleeve. Adding width or length needs matching fabric. If the piece is sold out or the garment has faded unevenly, the match may never be convincing.
• Changing the cut. A straight kameez cannot usually become an anarkali; a saree cannot become a lehenga without a great deal of new fabric and a different budget. Alteration adjusts a shape; it does not rebuild one.

Most disappointing alterations are fittings held without the right things in the room.

• Bring the shoes you will wear. Hem length is set from heel height, and a lehenga measured in flats will sit wrong in heels.
• Wear, or bring, the underwear and blouse you will wear underneath. Measurements taken over the wrong layers fit the layers, not you.
• Bring the jewellery if it affects the neckline — a necklace that covers the neckline changes what the blouse needs to do.
• Tell us the date it is needed for, and whether there are fittings in between. A wedding-date alteration is a different job from an everyday one.
• If you are not sure what needs changing, describe the problem rather than the fix. “It pulls across the back when I sit” is more useful than “take in the waist”.

Earlier than you think, and much earlier in wedding season: a garment that arrives two days before the function leaves no room for a second fitting.

Bring bridal and heavily embroidered pieces in as soon as you have them: changes may need to be pinned and checked more than once. Simple jobs are quicker, but still queue.

For the current turnaround, ask us when you bring the garment in or send a photograph on WhatsApp. We will give you a realistic date rather than an optimistic one.

This part matters and is worth knowing before you agree to any work, so it is stated plainly here and in full in the delivery and returns policy.

Under Irish consumer law you have 14 days to cancel a distance contract, counted from the day the goods reach you. That right does not apply to goods made to your specification, and once a garment has been altered to your requirements it falls within the same exception — because it can no longer be sold to anyone else as new.

An exception only ever removes the change-of-mind right. It never removes your rights if the work is faulty, not as described, or not carried out with reasonable care and skill. If we alter something and the alteration is not right, bring it back and we will put it right at our own cost.

You do not need to know which alteration you need. Send a photograph of the garment, say what bothers you about the fit and give us the date. That is usually enough to tell you whether it is a small job, a bigger one, or one we would advise against.

If you bought online and want the fitting to happen here, click & collect is the easiest route: order, collect from the Parnell Street door, try it on with a tailor in the building, and have the alteration done while the details are fresh.