I recently took a skirt to a tailor to have it taken in. The waist needed to be smaller, and some fabric also needed to be taken in at the seam down the side of the skirt, to reduce the overall width of the skirt. Now that I have tried on the altered skirt, I see that the seam is a little poofy in one spot--there is about a four-inch length of it where it looks like a little too much material was taken in, so the seam doesn't lie flat. I had this problem with a previous tailor—I had taken in a denim miniskirt to him to have the same type of work done, and the seam did not lie flat but poofed out by the pocket. I took the denim skirt back, and the tailor agreed that there was a problem, but after he "fixed" it, the poofing was still there. I wondered if maybe the extra material by the pocket was causing a problem, but in the current situation with the new tailor, there is no pocket or extra material.

I figured that a straight seam shouldn't be rocket science, which is why I took my next alterations project to this other tailor. But I obviously am having the same issue. Is this something that is more difficult than I think? Or is it the sign of a tailor who doesn't really put a high value on quality work?

I have another skirt that needs altering, and I'm wondering if I need to try a third tailor. I am very disappointed, as my impressions of both tailors—but esp. the first—was that they knew what they were doing. The first tailor was careful not to just take material from the "easy" places on the skirt, because he said that would cause the pockets in the back to lie too close together. So I was surprised to see something as basic as a flat seam cause him a problem. Any advice would be appreciated.