Ask Hannah!

I’m curious to know if you ever have any of your dresses altered for a better fit. I find myself having trouble finding a dress that will fit my shoulders without looking like a potato sack below my waist. Seams to me, (seams… I crack myself up…) that I girl could find an oversized dress that fit up top and could have the rest taken in to fit the rest.

About ten years ago my wife gave me a stunning gown. It was a little big on me so I contacted a seamstress for alterations so it would fit better. I also had shoulder straps added to it.

After the dress was altered I lost a lot of weight and the gown no longer fit me. I wanted to have it resized yet again but I don’t think it could be altered a second time. I love the dress for a lot of reasons but the most treasured part of it is that it was given to me by my absolutely incredible wife.

I wish I had taken better pictures of it while it still fit.

Now, I could leave the post right here, but I know some of you might be asking what it was like going to a seamstress and how I managed to find one.

Way back when we used to get big, fat books called The Yellow Pages. They were delivered once a year that listed every possible business that one could imagine, from plumbers to mechanics to dentists. Like many things, the internet replaced these the need for them. But I sat down and turned to the sections for ‘tailors’ and ‘seamstress’ and I looked for someone in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.

I’ve written about Uptown before and for decades it was known to be the queer part of Minneapolis. In high school I learned about queer coffee shops and bookstores and I remember thinking that if there was anywhere in Minnesota where someone like me could wear whatever they wanted, it was Uptown. Essentially I thought that this neighborhood would probably be a safe place for me to go as I felt that I wouldn’t be the first nonbinary person to wear a dress in their shop.

I called a few places to get quotes on alterations and once I found one that fit my budget I asked one of the hardest questions of my life. I disclosed that the dress would be altered for me, a physical male, and asked if that would be a problem for them.

Nope. Not at all.

Of course, were I to do something similar to this today I would disclose that I am transgender but I was still finding my comfort zone back then when it came to my identity and finding the closest terms I could find to describe who I was to someone else in context that they could understand.

I wanted to disclose this because if they were uncomfortable with who I was I wouldn’t want to give them my money.

I made my appointment and got dressed up and went out on a winter morning on a Friday.

This would be the first time I went out en femme during the day. Buuuut I don’t really count it as I only went to the shop and back home. Still, it was a momentous occasion.

I don’t remember exactly what I wore, but I am certain it was a blouse, a skirt, and boots. It was, after all, a winter day.

As luck would have it, the night before we received a significant snowfall and many roads were still not plowed yet making finding a place to park tricky. I was terrified about going out en femme back then and I wanted to find the closest parking spot possible so I could slip in and out of the shop as quickly as I could. I ended up parking a couple of blocks away and stepping out of my car to make the trek took a few minutes to build up my courage.

But like most things done en femme, it was a boring but empowering task. Easy peasy.

Over the course of three fittings, I was measured (everywhere) and tried on the dress several times before it was finished. The seamstress was lovely and talented and was the first person that had more than one conversation with Hannah besides my wife. Getting to know her allowed me to get to know Hannah, in a way.

I love this dress and I still own it. Every time I pass by a seamstress or a shop that does alterations I think of the gown, those appointments, and how amazing my wife is.

Love, Hannah

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