It is a practical question, not a personal one. The answer depends on timing, the garment, and what you actually need the clothes for.
Bodies change. That is true for everyone — weight shifts, muscle changes, posture adjusts over time. If you alter a garment to fit your body at one point and your measurements change significantly afterwards, the alteration may no longer hold.
Waiting until your body is stable makes sense in theory. In practice, it can mean waiting a long time — and wearing clothes that do not fit in the meantime.
If your measurements are actively changing and you know they will continue to change for a defined period, waiting has merit. Altering a garment twice costs more than altering it once. If you can hold off for a few weeks and get the job done at the right moment, that is usually the better approach.
This applies particularly to structured garments — suits, tailored jackets, fitted dresses. These involve more work and higher alteration costs. Getting them adjusted once, correctly, at a stable point is more efficient than paying for multiple rounds of work.
An event with a fixed date changes the calculation entirely.
A wedding, a job interview, a significant occasion — the dress or suit needs to fit on that day. You cannot defer the work on the basis that your measurements might shift. The garment needs to be altered to fit you as you are, close enough to the date that the result will still be accurate.
Refinery29’sguide to clothes and body changes addresses this directly: the practical priority is wearing clothes that fit now, not clothes adjusted for a future version of yourself that may or may not arrive on schedule.
Some customers handle this sensibly by altering in stages.
A first alteration gets the garment close to the right fit — enough to be wearable and presentable. A second, smaller adjustment fine-tunes it once measurements have settled. This works particularly well for structured garments where the major work — taking in side seams, adjusting the back — can be done early, with a final tweak to the waist or hem closer to the occasion.
It costs more than a single alteration. But it is often less frustrating than waiting indefinitely.
One constraint matters here: taking in is easier than letting out.
A garment with generous seam allowances can be let out by a centimetre or two if needed. But many garments — particularly cheaper ones — have very narrow allowances. Once the fabric is cut away, there is nothing to add back.
If measurements are likely to shift in both directions, err on the side of altering slightly conservatively. It is easier to take in a little more than to attempt a let-out that the seam allowances cannot support.
For suits, the shoulder seam is always the priority. It cannot be adjusted meaningfully after the fact. If the suit fits across the shoulders, everything else can be revisited.
A suit taken in at the waist now can be let out marginally later — provided the seam allowances allow it. A suit that fits the shoulders and has been adjusted at the waist is still a wearable suit even if the waist needs a small revision.
Oursuit alterations service andclothing alterations service both handle staged work. If you are working to a deadline or navigating a period of change, bring the garment in and we can talk through the most practical approach.
We are on Arlington Way in Angel, EC1R — a short walk from Angel tube. We work with customers from Islington, Clerkenwell, and across EC1 and N1.
After, if you can wait. Altering a garment and then having it not fit a few months later means paying twice. If your measurements are actively changing, waiting until they are more stable saves money. If you have a fixed deadline, alter for the date you need.
Alter them now, for how you are now. A garment that fits you on the day of the event is more useful than one altered for a version of yourself that may or may not arrive in time. Revisit after the event if needed.
Yes, within the limits of the seam allowances. Structured garments like suits have a finite amount of fabric in their seams. Each alteration uses some of that allowance. Two rounds of moderate adjustment is usually feasible. Several rounds of significant work may eventually exhaust what is available.
Check the seam allowances first. Cheap garments often have very little room. Quality garments usually have more. A tailor can tell you immediately whether a let-out is possible and by how much. Do not assume there is room — always check before banking on it.
Yes. Casual, unstructured clothing is cheaper and quicker to alter — less at stake if you need to revisit. Structured garments like suits and formal dresses involve more work per alteration. Getting those done at the right time matters more, because the cost of doing it twice is higher.
