What does a tailor do?

What is a Tailor?

Are you detail oriented? Do you love to sew? You may want to consider a career as a tailor!

A tailor sews, joins, reinforces, or finishes clothing or other items. They may create new pieces of clothing from patterns and designs or alter existing garments to fit customers better. They work for textile and apparel manufacturers, department stores, and dry cleaners.

Tailors typically do the following:

Measure clients to ensure that clothing will fit properly
Cut and measure fabric according to a pattern or design
Mark garments to note where alterations are necessary
Open seams to hem garments and to make other alterations
Sew clothing by hand, using a needle and thread or with sewing machines
Fit clothing on customers to determine if additional alterations are necessary

Tailors can specialize in alterations or in sewing custom garments. Those who do alterations ensure that clothes fit customers properly. They make changes to garments, such as hemming pants to make them shorter or taking in seams to make clothing smaller.

Some specialize in a certain type of garment, such as custom made men's suits. Others specialize in a particular type of material, such as fur. Fur tailors may restyle older clothing, add a fur collar to a coat or a dress, or sew the inner lining of a garment to the inside of fur skin by hand.

Some tailors work with designers or customers to create new garments. They take orders from customers and help them select fabric and colours. When working with a designer, tailors help translate designs into finished pieces of clothing. For example, a tailor may work with a fashion designer and hand sewer to create exclusive custom-fitted clothing.

Some tailors own their business. In these cases, they may do management and administrative tasks, such as managing the business' finances and taking orders.

Are you suited to be a tailor?

Tailors have distinct personalities. They tend to be realistic individuals, which means they’re independent, stable, persistent, genuine, practical, and thrifty. They like tasks that are tactile, physical, athletic, or mechanical. Some of them are also artistic, meaning they’re creative, intuitive, sensitive, articulate, and expressive.

Does this sound like you? Take our free career test to find out if tailor is one of your top career matches.

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What is the workplace of a Tailor like?

Tailors work for textile and apparel manufacturers, department stores, and dry cleaners. Most work full time, and work nights and weekends to accommodate customers’ schedules.

Many tailors are self-employed. Self-employed workers may need to work longer hours to run their business and complete customer orders.

Tailors are also known as:
Suit Alterer Seamster Professional Tailor Custom Tailor