Why fabric allowance matters
Fabric allowance is the piece a tailor deliberately leaves inside a seam — invisible until you need it. It's what lets a garment be let out or taken in later, without sourcing new fabric or changing the whole cut. When you iron a garment at home, take a look at the seams: if there's a pressed crease visible from an earlier alteration, mention it at your consultation — it helps us judge how much allowance is left.
Gentle steaming instead of aggressive ironing
Steaming is gentler on fabric than direct ironing — steam relaxes the fibres instead of pressing them into a new, unwanted shape. For wool, silk and blended fabrics, we recommend ironing through a damp cloth or from the reverse side, and never pressing hard where several layers of a seam meet.
The original factory hem deserves special care
On jeans and sportswear, we often keep the original factory hem — that distinctive worn edge the manufacturer left at the leg opening. Before shortening jeans yourself, consider whether you want to keep this detail. We can carry it over to the new length, but only if the fabric and edge are in good condition.