Pretty soon I'll be hanging out of my Rolls asking for Grey Poupon

I may not be able to stomach spending large amounts of cash on designer clothes (except for an occasional spendy pair of jeans), but I've discovered a new way to pretend like I'm uber-rich. I have my clothes tailored.

I've watched TLC's What not to Wear for ages and they always tout the praises of a good tailor. Of course, they also tout the praises of blowing 5 grand in two days shopping...but let's not focus on that. So, I decided to have a favorite jacket of mine tailored. The jacket was originally from Old Navy, but I bought it at a consignment store on Kirkland's waterfront. Does't that sound like the type of quality clothing that any tailor would love to work on? It was an extra large, but so was I following Spunky Girl's birth. It is the perfect jacket. It is an off-white/beige cotton twill with distressed features. It is the best jacket to wear with jeans and a t-shirt, which is my usual uniform.

I have slimmed down a bit in the last two years. When I was preggo with the Big Guy, I hit 200 lbs (a high for me...and a number I was both terrified of and secretly proud of). I'm now at a much more comfortable 145 and content to stay here awhile. I usually fit into size Medium, so my extra large jacket was looking baggy and boxish on me. I considered sending it to the Goodwill pile, but I knew it would be hard to find a perfect replacement at a cost I wanted to pay. I decided it was time to visit the tailor.

(I wish I could post a picture of the jacket here, but my camera is still marooned at Grandma's house 2 hours away. Drat.)

I got the jacket back yesterday and I'm super pleased with the results. The jacket fits just right, and you'd never guess that it wasn't the way it was originally made. And the cost? $20 Quite reasonable I thought, although I would have balked at anything higher. Now I'll think twice before tossing an ill-fiting item into the giveaway pile. Who knows? With a nip and a tuck, it could be my new favorite piece of clothing!