Selvedge · Tailoring and alterations in Ashfield

Alterations

The list on the wall, same as this one.

Prices are per garment and include the pin fitting. Turnaround is what we actually hit, not the best case. Three or more pieces at once and we'll quote a bundle.

Trousers

Hem, plain$183 days
Hem, cuffed or original edge$243 days
Waist in or out$285 days
Taper the leg$385 days
Seat and thigh$425 days

Jackets

Sleeves, plain cuff$457 days
Sleeves, working cuff$8510 days
Sides in or out$657 days
Shorten the body$9510 days
Collar, take up$557 days

Coats

Sleeves$557 days
Sides in or out$7510 days
Shorten the body$8510 days
Reline, fullfrom $2203 weeks

Dresses

Hem, plain$325 days
Hem, lined or pleatedfrom $557 days
Bodice, take infrom $607 days
Straps, add or shorten$305 days
Bridal and formalquotedsee below

Shirts

Sleeves$223 days
Sides, with darts$285 days
Collar, replace$487 days
Buttons, full set$162 days

Fine print

Jeans hemmed with the original edge kept, $24. Chain stitch if the old machine is in the mood.
Leather, suede, and anything with a lining you can't see through: quoted at the counter, usually on the spot.
Not on the list? Bring it in. Most things are a look and a number.
Pin fittings take ten minutes. Come in something you can change out of.

Book a pin fitting

Or just walk in with the bag. Drop-offs never need an appointment.

Made to measure

Cut to your measurements, not near them.

Twenty-eight measures, a note about your posture, and a conversation about how you actually stand. The pattern is drafted for you and kept on file, so the second suit takes one fitting fewer. Half-canvas as standard. Full canvas if you want the chest to age with you.

Two-piece suit from $1,450 Half-canvas, your cloth, eight to ten weeks. Waistcoat adds $320.

Shirt from $185 Your pattern kept on file. Four or more at once, $165 each.

The cloth books live on the back table: flannel, fresco, hopsack, worsted, and a linen book for summer. English and Italian mills, nine to thirteen ounces. Take your time. The tea is free.

Bolts of wool suiting stacked on a shelf, flannel and hopsack in greys and navy

01
Measure and cloth

An hour. We measure, talk about where you'll wear it and how often, and go through the books. Nothing is decided in a hurry, least of all the cloth.
Week 0 · 60 minutes
02
Baste fitting

The suit comes back in white thread with the sleeves pinned and no buttonholes yet. We chalk it on you, then take it apart again. This is the fitting that matters.
Week 4 · 30 minutes
03
Forward fitting

Nearly finished. Sleeve length, button stance, trouser break. Small marks only, then it goes back to the bench for the hand work and pressing.
Week 7 · 30 minutes

Delivery in week eight to ten. Shirts are two fittings and four weeks. Every made-to-measure piece comes with a year of free adjustments, because bodies change and we'd rather you wore it.

Weddings and events

The whole party, fitted in one afternoon.

Groom, groomsmen, both sets of parents, and the bridesmaid whose dress arrived two sizes off. We book the party together, pin everyone against the same mirror, and keep a sheet for the day so nobody's hem is a surprise.

Bridal alterations are quoted after a first look, in writing, before a single pin goes in. Bustles, hems on layered skirts, taking in a bodice with boning: all of it is work we do every week, not once a year.

Book the party

When to book: Eight weeks before the day. Six is fine. Four is a rush fee. Two is a phone call and an honest answer.
Final fitting: Ten days out, in the shoes you'll actually wear and whatever goes under it. Not the week of.
On the day: Everything pressed and on hangers, collected the day before or delivered within town for $40.

A vintage sewing machine with a navy jacket sleeve mid-stitch under the presser foot

Repairs and rescues

Bring us the thing you almost threw out.

A good coat with a broken zip is still a good coat. Most of what comes through the door in a carrier bag leaves on a hanger. If it isn't worth the work, we'll say so and you'll pay nothing for the opinion.

ZipsTrousers, jackets, dresses, boots. Metal or nylon, matched to the original. From $26.
Moth holesInvisible mending on wool and cashmere, reweaving on the good stuff. From $35 a hole.
LiningsPatched where it's a patch, replaced where it's gone. Partial from $60, full from $180.
Seams, pockets, buttonholesSplit seams, pocket bags with holes in them, the buttonhole that gave up. From $12.
Leather and denimJacket zips, jean hems with the original edge, the inner thigh blowout. Yes, really. Quoted on sight.

The tailor

Ines Marchetti learned it at her father's bench.

Aldo Marchetti cut suits on this street for forty years, and his daughter swept the floor, then sewed buttons, then hems, then everything. She took the shop on in 1996 and has been at the bench since: thirty years, two machines, and one pair of shears she will not lend you.

She fits the way he taught her. Slowly, in chalk, on your body and not on a form. She'll tell you when a jacket isn't worth the work. She'll also tell you when it is, and mean it.

"Most people have never worn something that actually fits. The first time is a bit of a shock. Then they come back."

At the bench since 1996 Trained on Marlow Street Two assistants, one apprentice

Ines Marchetti at her cutting table, tape measure around her neck

Turnaround and rush

Stated plainly, so nobody has to ask.

2 to 10 days

Standard

What the price list says. Hems and simple work in two or three days, jackets and coats inside ten, full relines two to three weeks. We text when it's ready.

48 hours

Rush

Hems, waists, sleeves, and zips. Adds half again to the list price. In before noon and it goes to the front of the rail, no questions.

Same day

Emergency

Ask by ten in the morning, collect after four. Double the list price, and only if it can be done properly. Funerals are never charged rush.

We'd rather say no than hand you a hem we pinned in a hurry. If the rail is full, we'll tell you at the counter, not on the day.

The Selvedge shop interior: a fitting mirror, a rail of suits, and the counter

Walk in with a bag, book for a fitting.

Address

58 Marlow Street
Ashfield
Open in Maps

Between the bakery and the locksmith. The door sticks; push harder.

Hours

Tue to Fri9 to 6
Saturday10 to 4
Sun and MonClosed

Last fitting an hour before close.

Book

Call (555) 555-0147
or write to hello@selvedge.example

Weddings and parties go to weddings@selvedge.example.

Drop-offs and collections Walk in, any time we're open. Leave the garment, take a ticket, we text when it's ready.

Fittings By appointment, so nobody waits in the mirror. Ten minutes for a pin fitting, an hour for made to measure.