page_title: Tailor
section_title: Related terms
hierarchical_section_title: Tailor / Economics / Related terms
caption_attribution_description: English: Tailor in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China.
context_page_description: A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.
  Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now properly refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers, and similar garments, commonly of wool, linen, or silk.
  The term so used thus refers to a set of specific hand and machine sewing and pressing techniques that are unique to the construction of traditional jackets. Small and medium size retail tailors often provide their services internationally, with individual tailors and cutters travelling to various cities, allowing the customers to be met locally, measured on one trip, fitted on another and thereafter supplied with garment without the inconvenience of themselves travelling overseas. Even small tailoring businesses without an international following will sometimes travel from one city to another within their home country, and quite a number will visit customers at the customers' places of work or homes.
context_section_description: A tailor-made is a man's suit consisting of a (usually) woolen or tweed coat and pants; the name arose during the Edwardian period.
  As an adjective, tailor-made (from the second half of the twentieth century usually simplified to tailored) refers to clothing made by or in the style of clothes made by a tailor, characterized by simplicity of cut and trim and fine (often hand) finishing; as a women's clothing style tailored as opposed to dressmaker.
  Rodeo tailor is a term for a creator of the flamboyant costumes typical of country and western musicians, characterized by extensive hand embroidery, an abundance of rhinestones, and cowboy details such as pearl snaps and arrowhead pockets.
  In some contexts, the verb 'to tailor' means to adjust, and tailoring means adjusting.
  Sewing professional is the most general term for those who make their living by sewing, teaching, writing about sewing, or retailing sewing supplies. They may work out of their home, a studio, or retail shop, and may work part-time or full-time. They may be any or all or the following sub-specialties:
  A custom clothier makes custom garments one at a time, to order, to meet an individual customer's needs and preferences.
  A custom dressmaker specializes in women's custom apparel, including day dresses, suits, evening or bridal wear, sportswear, or lingerie.
  A tailor makes custom menswear-style jackets and trousers.
  A cutter cuts out, from lengths of cloth, the panels that make up a suit. In bespoke tailoring, the cutter may also measure the client, advise them on style choices, and commission craftsmen to sew the suit.
  An alterations specialist, or alterationist adjusts the fit of completed garments, usually ready-to-wear, or restyles them. Note that while all tailors can do alterations, not all alterationists can do tailoring.
  Designers conceive combinations of line, proportion, color, and texture for intended garments. They may or may not have sewing or patternmaking skills, and may only sketch or conceptualize garments. They work with people who know how to actually construct the garment.
  Patternmakers  flat draft the shapes and sizes of the numerous pieces of a garment by hand, using paper and measuring tools or by computer using AutoCAD based software, or by draping muslin onto a dressform. The resulting pattern pieces must comprise the intended design of the garment and they must fit the intended wearer.
  A wardrobe consultant, fashion advisor, or stylist recommends styles and colors that are flattering to a client.
  A seamstress is someone who sews seams or a machine operator in a factory who may not have the skills to make garments 'from scratch' or to fit them onto a real body. This term is not a synonym for dressmaker. Seamstress is also an unkind and archaic euphemism for prostitute. Despite such unfortunate double meanings, a good seamstress can perform invaluable work within a hand tailoring business.
caption: A roadside tailor in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China
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