It's so hard to find a good tailor in NYC. Tailors are practically on every street corner and often in shop together with a laundromat, but good ones are few and far between. If it's just a simple alteration you need, such as taking up a pair of jeans, then you're set. But if you need anything more complex be sure to shop around.

How do you shop around you say? You have to go on gut feel. Today I walked into 2 different tailor shops before handing over my precious new jacket to a third. The first guy gave me a spiel about how difficult the alteration would be (I was asking them to shorten the sleeves which involved taking out the silky lining and removing a button and also to tighten the sleeve diameter) and as a result said it would cost $50. It all just seemed like too much hassle for him, yet they were trying to book me in, so I said forget it. The second tailor had a little shop in a corner of a laundromat and was quite panicky when I started describing what I wanted to do so I left.

The third place was a dingy little shop, so small if you blinked you'd miss it. It smelt kind of musky inside and there was a small Italian guy sitting behind a pile of jackets stacked so high they almost hid him. He came across as quirky and honest and immediately started pinning my jacket here and there and making suggestions on where it should be taken in. I got the impression he'd been doing this all his life. He was quietly confident and really friendly so I left it with him. And he's only charging $20.

Hopefully I'm not jumping the gun, but I have a feeling my jacket will come back just fine :) Will update next week.