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Knowing I can simply waltz into a dry cleaner’s with alteration services near me and get some pants taken in at the waist emboldens me to make all sorts of questionable thrift purchases. But yet, it pays off every time. I think most people under 40 find it oddly intimidating to just go do this because they’re not sure how much it might cost? Or because it’s weirdly intimate to talk to a stranger about how you want your clothes fit on your body? But verily I tell you–it is usually costs less than $20-30, and anyone doing that job professionally has seen all sorts of weird vanity in action and absolutely doesn’t care.
Related Recs
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& having clothes that fit properly!
It’s expensive but also I will get more wear and joy out of pants that fit me properly. Am I a little worried that this dress will no longer fit me in a few months? Yes.
However I know it’s gonna fit like a dream for now.
Also big ups for finding a tailor who compliments you in an slightly-odd but honest european grandad way and tells you to not loose weight (but that you do need to buy bras 1 cup-size larger). Will be returning half to get my pants fixed and half to see Dean.
Feb 1, 2024
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Learning to mend and make simple alterations to your clothes is hugely helpful and empowering, but finding a tailor you trust is also so worth it— it helps your clothes to change with your body, it can ease the frustration of feeling like things don’t fit, and it extends the life of your clothes, so that we’re buying less and keeping items out of landfills. Really no downsides, and it’s typically much cheaper than buying replacements.
Feb 6, 2024
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honestly recommend so hard. at least for women, I know a lot of clothes I buy are almost just right. something small is off, something doesn’t fit right in 1 area of my pants or shirt
in the chicago neighborhoods ive lived & visited there’s often a local tailor & it’s not expensive and makes such a huge difference!
Oct 8, 2024
Top Recs from @katy
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I had a particularly rough Thanksgiving Day this year and processed some of that stress by making a cranberry sauce with actual fresh cranberries, a thing that is incredibly easy to make and my fave holiday food by a significant margin. I was only making it for myself so I used slightly less than half of the sugar called for in whatever recipe I found online (I wanna say it was a variation on the NYT “red wine cranberry sauce” but I only used a tiny bit of wine and no cinnamon?) THEN at the end of the day I just put a bit of it on top of some pistachio ben and jerry’s I had leftover. It is so so good and I’ve made it twice again since then. I would also suggest fucking around with a bit of cardamom or maybe black sesame seeds?
Jan 11, 2024
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A therevox is a recently-invented musical instrument I was first introduced to by my friend Ross Collier. I needed something for a song that would function sort of like a pedal steel but was also definitely not a pedal steel. They’re apparently quite rare and seem hard to play but unparalleled in creating swoopy, floaty textures that sound unplaceable but yet not alien.
Jan 11, 2024
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I did this with a bunch of lyrics at some point when writing my last record and it was actually super productive and also very fun. I would especially recommend it as an aid in learning or creating something, as a therapy pre-game activity, or of course proving a point/crafting a theory. Anything you wanna wrap your head around can be effectively tackled with a very cheap set of color coded push pins.
Jan 11, 2024