Episode 114 • Clothes & Fashion
Have something altered
Hem
Tailor
Bedazzle
Rhinestone
Story
Daughter: Mom, can we go to the mall now?
Mom: Yeah, of course, honey. There’s just a couple of things I gotta do and then we can go.
Daughter: What? What is it?
Mom: Well, I gotta go to the post office to send this and then I have to go get my jeans altered. I promise it won’t take long. Look, I already took all the measurements. I just gotta drop them off. Actually, why don’t you drop them off for me? Look, the shop is right over there. This way I can go to the post office and we can get to the mall faster.
Daughter: Fine. What do I tell them?
Mom: Well, tell them those jeans need to be hemmed.
Daughter: Okay…
Mom: Alright, I’ll see you in a bit, thanks.
[shop bell]
Daughter: Hello!
Tailor: Bonjour, ma cherie!
Daughter: Uhm, hi. Are you the tailor?
Tailor: But of course. Tell me, what do you need?
Daughter: I need to have these jeans hemmed.
Tailor: Let me see. Okay, alright listen, these jeans are very boring. They need a little bit of bedazzling.
Daughter: Bedazzling? I don’t if my mom would-
Tailor: Listen to me, your mom is going to look ten years younger with these jeans when I’m finished with them.
Daughter: Uhm, okay…
[Time ticking]
Tailor: Voilà. Your mom is going to love them!
[Bell shop]
Mom: Claire! What took you so long?
Daughter: Here are your jeans, mom.
Mom: Okay, great, let me- What in the world is this?
Daughter: A little bedazzling?
Mom: A little? A little?! These things are covered in rhinestones!
Daughter: Sorry mom… But, guess what? I think you’re going to look ten years younger in them!
Questions
Have something altered
'I have to go get my jeans altered.'
• If you need to have a piece of clothing altered, does that mean it looks good on you or not?
No. If you buy a piece of clothing, pair of pants, a shirt, a skirt, whatever and you need to have it altered, that's because it's not looking great on you. Maybe it's too big, maybe it's too small, maybe it's too long or too short, but you need to make some changes to it. That's why you say that you need to have it altered.
• If you need to have something altered, where do you take it?
Well, I personally give it to my mom, because she's really good at sewing, so she knows how to do these types of things, but a lot of people usually take them to a shop,
• When was the last time you had to have something altered?
Pretty much every time I buy a pair of pants, I have to have them altered, because I'm really short. I'm only five feet, and chances are if I buy a pair of pants, they're going to be too long for me. Well, I bought a pair of pants that I need to have altered, but I haven't seen my mom yet, so they're going to have to wait. The last time that I got something altered I was back in Italy and it was a pair of jeans that, like I said, were too long. Actually, I brought them to the shop because my mom said she couldn't do it, because it was jeans, so she needed to have a special sewing machine. I brought them to a shop to have them altered. They were like, "We have to do it, but we're going to do it our way." I wanted to do something a little different, and they wouldn't listen to me. They wanted to do it the proper way. My mom was like, "Oh, never mind. I'll do it." She found a way and did it.
Hem
'Well, tell them those jeans need to be hemmed.'
• If a pair of pants or a skirt needs to be hemmed, what are you going to alter, the bottom part or the top part?
If a pair of pants or a skirt needs to be hemmed, you want to alter the bottom part. The part that's closer to the ground, so to speak.
• Why do pants and skirts need to be hemmed?
Whenever you are making a pair of pants or a skirt from scratch or even a shirt or maybe say that you bought something and it's too long, so you got to cut it. Anytime you got a piece of fabric that's been cut basically. It's not going to look great, because it's going to be all frazzled. You going to have threads coming out of it. That's why you need to hem the fabric. You're going to basically take the edge of this piece of fabric or this piece of clothing and you turn it under and you stitch it down, so you sew it. This way, it's going to look much cleaner. There's not going to be any threads coming out of it. It's going to last longer. That is why you need a hem.
• Would you be able to hem a pair of pants?
I guess I could do it. I don't know if I would say that I could hem a pair of pants well. I could definitely cut them. I've done that before and I didn't hem them because I was too lazy to do that. I guess I could sew them so that they're hemmed, but it's definitely not going to be a great job. I'm going to say no. I cannot hem a pair of pants. I probably should learn at some point.
Tailor
'Uhm, hi. Are you the tailor?'
• What does a tailor do? Do they alter clothes or do they make custom clothing?
I actually had to do a little bit of research, because I wasn't sure, because you also the term seamstress. That's pretty similar. It turns out that a tailor can both alter clothes in general, or even make custom clothing. Some tailors apparently only decide to do alterations just because it's faster and they can make more. That way, probably they can make more money, but there's always the option for them to decide to make custom clothing.
• Have you ever taken a piece of clothing to a tailor?
Like I said, I did take a pair of jeans, then they told me that they would cut them a certain way and I didn't want them to be cut that way. I told them, and they were like, "Sorry, but this is how it's done." I'm like, "Sorry, I'm taking away my jeans. I'm going to do it my way." Yes, that didn't go well.
Bedazzling
'They need a little bit of bedazzling.'
• If a piece of clothing or an accessory is bedazzled, is it decorated or is it left plain?
If something, or a piece of clothing, or an accessory-- it can be a purse, it can be even a phone-- nota phone, but like a phone cover is bedazzled, that means that it's decorated.
• If something is bedazzled, what is it decorated with?
Now, you're probably going to be able to understand the story. If something is bedazzled, it's decorated with I would say sparkly stuff. It can be beads, it can be sequence, it can be rhinestones. The way people apply these things is usually with glue or sometimes they sew it onto the piece of clothing or the accessory that they want to bedazzle.
• Why do some people choose to bedazzle their clothes and accessories?
I think that when someone chooses to bedazzle something like a piece of clothing or an accessory, they do it because they find whatever they bedazzling plain, boring. They want to spice it up. They want to make it maybe more unique, a little bit more fun. A lot of people do it, for example, with denim jackets or jeans. You take something that's pretty boring, let's face it, and you just add something that will make it more fun. That's why I think a lot of people choose to bedazzle their clothes.
• Do you own anything that’s bedazzled?
No, I don't. That's really not my style. If you look at my wardrobe, it's so boring. Everything is black or grey. There's really nothing sparkly in there. I'm a very tomboyish kind of woman. I just don't like anything that's bedazzled. I do like it on other people, but I feel very uncomfortable wearing something that's bedazzled for some reason.
Rhinestones
'These things are covered in rhinestones!'
• Is rhinestone another word for diamond or not?
Well, there's a big difference between a rhinestone and a diamond. Everybody knows what a diamond is, is a very precious rock. On the other hand, a rhinestone looks like a diamond. Meaning it's sparkly, it looks like a little piece of see-through rock, but really isn't valuable at all. It's a piece, I believe, of plastic. Let me Google it. Yes, it's basically made from crystal, glass, or even plastic. for people to resist. It's going to be almost impossible to say no to something.
• What are rhinestones used for?
Well, they're used to bedazzle stuff. If you go get a pair of jeans and they're full of something sparkly like these little sparkly gems chances are unless you're paying $3,000 for those pants that those are rhinestones. They're also used in cheap jewelry, so maybe earrings or necklaces that are not really expensive. If there's something like a little stone that looks very sparkly and see-through, and looks like a diamond, then that's probably a rhinestone.
• Do you have anything with rhinestones?
I know I said I don't have anything bedazzled, but I have a belly button ring that has two rhinestones in it. Yes, it turns out I do have something sparkly on me. It's just not in my wardrobe. It's literally on me, on my body.
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