Do you get a tailor involved?

If it's cheap I get it tailored. If it's expensive off the shelf then I don't buy it if the fits bad. Recently had a local seamstress take in the sides on the costco down vest. A few inches in, charged me $10, love it now. If it's small stuff like adding a loop on a tarp or something I'll just hand sew the crap out of it. I am sewing machine illiterate.

Oh man, it's hard to find a good tailor. I had a great one when I lived in San Diego, but haven't found one in central Texas yet. When I do get a lead on a good tailor here, it always comes down to a language barrier. 2014 is the year I learn to speak Spanish.

I'll hand sew small areas, buttons, etc. I have a sewing machine I can use pretty well for drapes, pillow cases, bags, and other easy stuff.

Things taken to the tailor: torn tent, cycling jerseys, suit jacket and trousers, strap added to backpack, T-shirts.

If you can find a good tailor and a good cobbler, you're way ahead of the game.

I was almost ready too one time when I wanted to tailor the complicated bottom of my essence rain paints to my leg length. I didn't care about the zipper but I wanted to still have the cinch cord on the end. I was worried about the waterproofing and the like, and even asked on here for advice. It sounded like it was going to be a pain. I even made some inquiries at some places that made custom backpacking gear, and mostly the though I was a nutter. LOL

Eventually I got up the nerve. The hard part was I had to carefully dissect the cinch cord apparatus and reconstruct it on the hemmed pants, including cutting out a patch around the grommet and resewing it into the pants. It took a ridiculously long time but it all came out pretty well. Cutting through the zipper also made be nervous the first time for some reason. Turned out to be a no-brainer since I didn't care about having the zipper, just the cinch, so I then sewed the zipper end shut anyway. Sealed things up with seam grip and everything looked and worked fine.

On the other hand Hemming regular pants is super easy, and it is great to have them exactly the right length and not having that ever be an issue again. I have short legs, and for me having the sewing machine was worth it just for that.

What are you thinking of having done? My advice would be see if you can do it yourself. The price of a decent but cheap machine will eventually pay for the tailoring bill, and you can do some DIY stuff if you want.

If I can't make the changes myself, I take it to a nice couple who run a shoe repair/tailor business and they do a great job for a low price.

I had a good-sized tear in the sleeve of my Houdini jacket. My wife was going to a seamstress to get some dresses resized, so I tagged along. For $10, the seamstress removed the useless chest pocket on the jacket and used the fabric to make a beautiful patch for the tear. The work was extremely professional–she even used the right color of thread (synthetic thread at that).

I buy a lot of clothing from Goodwill and have scored several pairs of Patagonia hiking pants that were too long. I paid so little for the pants that it made sense to pay a little bit to have the length altered. It worked out great. I only do this for really good clothing scored at thrift shops. On the rare occasion I buy retail, or even on Ebay, I expect a great fit.