Bridal Alterations Pittsburgh

I came to Barb to have her alter my wedding dress for my wedding this summer. I’m not a particular bride, I’m pretty easygoing & I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But if you are looking for wedding dress alterations, I would not to come to Barb. My dress needed to have the sleeves raised, hemmed bottom, a layer of tulle taken out, & a bustle. Everything else fit perfectly. I ended up having 7 dress appointments due to miss-aligned lace, unfinished bustle (3 dress appointments for that), uneven hemming, sleeves being cut too short, and so much more. We kept needing to make more appointments due to Barbs errors. At first, didn’t know if I was being too nitpicky, but when I would try on the dress, there would be error after error, after error. I eventually took my mom with me just to make sure I wasn’t the only one seeing these mistakes. (Just trying give the benefit of the doubt). My mom ended up coming to the next 5 appointments with me & she saw all the errors & definitely was shocked to keep seeing unfinished work each time. The 7th appointment was 9ish days before the wedding. The dress should have been done & ready for us to take home. After 2+ hrs of standing, having Barb try and get the bustle up (that she made herself) & still having the hem be completely uneven. My mom & I kindly said that we needed to take the dress elsewhere because it was clear that Barb could not have this finished. We didn’t ask for a refund, we didn’t want to hurt her feelings, we just needed to have someone else do this dress. Thankfully my florist doubled as a wedding dress alterer. And she willingly had me come in, have a quick appointment, fix the bustle up perfectly, & got the hem aligned. When I came back to her to pick up the dress she took out the old hem section that Barb had created & noted where it went wrong & how uneven it was. She was amazed on how noticeably uneven it was. In the end, I’m thankful that my florist just knew exactly what to do & my dress ended up just looking beautiful thanks to her. Truly, I think Barb had some great talent back in her day. But her eye for details is just not there anymore. I do not think she should be doing alterations for wedding dresses. The only reason that I’m giving her 2 stars instead of 1 is because I think that she tries really hard to get it right, so her willingness to keep working on it was good. But I do not think she has the ability to alter wedding dresses well anymore due to countless avoidable errors she kept making.

Do not go to Barb for alterations! She ruined my lace dress, and I ended up having to get a new wedding gown! To make matters worse, she agreed to reimburse half of the up-front (total) cost when I decided to split ways with her, but did not send it when she said she would. She had agreed to send it several times and then did not send it. I had to keep asking her for it and threaten to get a lawyer involved before she finally sent the half reimbursement payment two months later! Truthfully, the dress was ruined, so it should've been a full reimbursement. Two other seamstresses' professional opinions on the dress since pointed out irreversible mistakes with both the hem and how the gown was taken in at the bust. On my first visit, I did not leave feeling great, as she could not clearly answer the questions I had about the plan of alterations on the dress. She also began pinning up the bottom hem on the first visit. I reminded her that I did not have my shoes yet, but I would have them for the next visit. She wanted to just show me what it would look like at the appropriate length, so I was okay with that, but reminded her again before I left to please not hem it due to not having shoes yet. Plus, there were many other areas to work on as the dress did need significant alterations due to sizing. Upon arrival on my second visit, I was very alarmed! My dress had been hemmed (horribly by the way) despite two reminders not to! She tried to downplay her mistake like it was no big deal. The way she had taken in the dress looked terrible in the back. It lost it's attractive V-like shape in the back and the lace fabric had been pulled in a way that it did not lay appropriately (wrinkled/puckered when I was standing at rest). We split ways due to her poor craftsmanship and inability to answer questions and resolve issues.

I had a simple bridesmaid dress altered by Barb a few years ago for my brother's wedding. Barb did a great job on the hem and adding cups. I felt like I trusted her enough to alter my wedding gown a few years later, but I was unfortunately wrong. I would not recommend barb for anything more sophisticated. She nearly ruined my wedding dress and caused a great deal of stress. I found my dress at a boutique. I loved it but wanted to have it taken in more through the thighs for a sleeker fit and flare look. I called Barb, explaining exactly what I wanted and asked if she could do it, to which she replied YES. It turns out she could not, all she offered was a slip which I thought might work at first but really only added extra volume to the bottom which was not the look I wanted. She did do the hem, bustle, and added cups okay but I think where things really went wrong was when she brought in only the top section of my dress without regarding how the remainder of the dress would fit. Once she pulled in the top of the dress tighter on my body, the rest of the dress did not lay properly. There was a gap along my back to my butt, there were odd creases along both sides of the back. This was not the smooth and sleek look I was going for. Barb was swamped with other work at this point and made me feel like she didn't have time to continue working on my dress. Either she does not have an eye for this kind of work or she just wanted to avoid fixing her mistakes due to her busy schedule. She told me it wasn't the dress that was messed up but my BODY! She said I needed plastic surgery- this is NOT the kind of thing an already stressed out bride needs to hear a month before her wedding. I am not a confrontational person so it was tough to avoid letting her walk all over me. In the end she agreed to try and fix the dress by bringing it in at a few more spots, and removing some of the darting. Then I asked to pick it up early. When I went to pick it up a few weeks later, I asked to try it on once more, and she said, "Why? It's too late to change anything now." At this point I just wanted to take my dress and get out of there. When I got home and tried it on again I was heartbroken to see that there were still odd creases and wrinkles, it looked like there was bunched up fabric in the under layers. And I did NOT get my fit and flare look. I decided I had to get another opinion so I took the dress to another seamstress. SHE was seriously amazing. She looked at the dress with me for an hour, made changes while I was there and brought it back again and again for me to try on and observe. She clipped the side seams to relieve some of the pressure on the dress, showed me where barb had made mistakes in the side seams and had caught extra fabric on the back of the seams. She said Barb left nearly no seam allowance so it would be difficult to fix but she managed to pull it off by bringing in my back zipper to get rid of that gaping fabric AND to top it all off she was able to bring the dress in to be fitted through my thighs and give me the fit and flare look I wanted all along. Long story short, DO NOT go to Barb for more than the basic alterations unless you want to pay for bridal alterations again, waste hundreds of dollars, and be insulted about your body in the process.

I was not satisfied or impressed with my experience with Bridal Alterations Pittsburgh. I was charged a very high price ($500) for my alterations (Barb had to change the placement of the zipper, add a belt, and hem the bottom, so I expected to be extremely wowed. At the second fitting, nothing was done on my dress, leaving me to believe that that appointment was a waste of my time. Barb had to reschedule my third fitting due to a death in the family- completely understandable. However, Barb also left me a message before the 3rd fitting (4 days before my wedding due to rescheduling) asking me to come later since she needed to step out. That felt very unprofessional to me- especially as she made clear that this appointment would be to simply try on the dress and take it home. Enough time had not been left to do additional work. However, as no work had been done at the second fitting, I had to put a lot of faith into hoping I would like the alterations. Overall, the dress was fine, not great, and not worth the $500 I was charged. I was an extremely laid back bride and I was stressed with this process. Overall, this company is not for you if you 1) aren't looking to spend an arm and a leg 2) want to be involved in the process 3) are a moderate to high maintenance bride.

Found Barb with a quick google search for my August 2016 wedding dress alterations. The wedding dress had a lot of work to be done including things like taking it in, adding cups, hemming and bustling layers of tulle, and removing illusion neckline. Due to so much work, the alterations did cost more than I wanted, but it was worth it as she clearly knows what she is doing. Because you can tell she is very busy, her calendar is fairly full, you have to make sure that she writes stuff down to remember on your paperwork. She did end up forgetting to put the final eye hook near the zipper so the dress zipper would stay closed, but this was not a terrible issue. She added lace where the neckline was removed to make it more appealing and even made a simple, single-layer, tulle fingertip veil. Barb also did my sister's maid of honor dress which involved a hem and inserting cups with only one fitting. I did end up having one more fitting than originally projected, due to a lack of me having a slip and her recommendation to order one through her, but she made the deadline. She also steamed and stored both dresses for me until pick-up 3 days before the wedding. Overall, would highly recommend. She did a beautiful job on my David's Bridal trumpet-fit wedding dress.

I found Barb's name and number online when searching for a seamstress to help with alterations for my 4/29/16 wedding. I was really happy to find that she was close by and worked out of her own home, and I didn't have to visit a busy store or salon (which is a huge plus). She books appointments so that each client has their own time slot and isn't rushed. She was also understanding when I needed to change the appointment time. My initial appointment for my first fitting went well, and she recommended sewn in bra cups (which were fabulous compared to a bra!) I also needed my dress hemmed, and a bustle added. I opted to skip the full slip purchase through Barb, and used one a friend gave me instead. I had a second, final fitting one more time before the wedding. Both appointments went smoothly. I picked up my dress the day before my wedding, and it was ready on time. I was so thankful she showed my mom and I how to bustle the dress, and how the corset back was to be tied properly. On the wedding day, the dress fit like a glove. My bustle came undone a few times during the reception, but it was an easy fix and I do not blame Barb...the train on my dress was extremely heavy! Overall, I would recommend Barb to any other Pittsburgh bride needing personalized, professional alterations.

Barb was great to work with and very accommodating, especially with appointment times. She is a pro at what she does. I brought in a dress that I ordered online. It was a little too big. For the first fitting, she pinned. For the second fitting, I had lost a few pounds so she had to re-pin. When I went in for the final fitting, I wanted to cry and hug her! It was so beautiful. It looked so much better than it did when I went in originally. The dress looked like it was made especially for me. She deserves recognition for such fine work and I highly recommend her!

Barb is the epitome of unprofessional. I was in Natalie Jackson's wedding and our experience with Barb was extraordinarily frustrating and disappointing. Everything Natalie and the other girls in her wedding party have said is 100% true. And, none of us live in Chicago so Barb's claims that the post is from one of us is a lie. How sad that Barb can't accept the she royally screwed up when it came to our wedding party or that there may be others out there completely unsatisfied with her services (or lack thereof). It's also really childish and petty that she blatantly calls Natalie a bridezilla for speaking the truth about her experience with Barb - Natalie is a customer and has a right to her review. Natalie has never stooped to calling Barb names and Barb should be embarrassed for behaving in this manner. This alone should be enough to convince other brides to avoid Barb at all costs. I should say that I got married 9 years ago and have been in several weddings since and have never even thought about writing a negative review for anyone before. My experience with Barb was so etremely bad that I feel obligated to warn as many others as I can. That said, here is a brief recount of my experience with Barb. I am happy to share photos of my dress with anyone who wants proof that we're not making this up - just ask. My dress came in much too large for me, and needed taken in significantly. I'm also only 5'3" so the dress needed cut and hemmed along the bottom. My first fitting with her was fine - no drama and while she was quiet and rather stand-offish, there were no red flags. I was told to come back the week before the wedding to try the dress on again to make sure it fit. When I returned for the second time, expecting to be able to pick my dress up and take it home, it seemed as if almost nothing had been done. The bottom had been cut and hemmed, but barely anything had been taken in and the dress was still literally falling off of me. When I asked why we were still so far from having the dress fit, I was told that everyone has to have a second fitting and that's what I was there for. I found this to be very rude, and also highly unusual for a bridesmaid's dress. I had never had to have a second fitting for a bridesmaid's dress any other time I had been in a wedding. Also, with only 6 days to go before the wedding, you can imagine we were all extremely busy helping with final tasks so finding time to come back to try the dress on yet again was really inconvenient. We were told to come back Wednesday (the wedding was Friday) - every single bridesmaid needed additional work done on our dresses so we all gathered in the shop Wednesday night. I was the last to arrive because of work, but the others had been there for about 4 hours already because the dresses were still just a mess. When I got to try mine on, the top of the dress was crooked and had bumps and lumps sticking out because the seams were so poorly taken in. The waistline of the dress was tighter on the left side than the right, and the hemline was completely uneven. Worse, the dress had stains that looked like wax or grease all down the bodice. These were NOT there the first time I tried my dress on - I am large-chested and absolutely would have noticed dark stains on my breasts. I remained calm and asked her to fix the worst of it. Barb never apologized and actually was visibly annoyed and flustered - she sighed continuously as if asking for my dress to be properly fitted w

I was in the wedding party of the bride who posted 'Horrible Service' above. Barb made many mistakes with our dresses. Two dresses had some type of stain and had to be rushed to the cleaner two days before the wedding. One had a horribly uneven hemline. Another we had to use fashion tape to fix Barb's mistakes. And another had something in the dress which caused bruising. Not one of the bridesmaids had our dress as of two days before the wedding. Not once did I hear Barb make any type of apology to anyone. All I heard was excuse after excuse. The bride was justifiably upset. Who wouldn't be when none of her bridesmaids had a dress two days prior to the wedding, and we were all left wondering if we'd be scrambling around a department store to find replacements.

Wow, Barb restored my Vera Wang Wedding Gown I purchased at a sample sale at Filenes. I have to admit it was dirty and pretty ragged when I took it to her, but she had it professionally cleaned and then restored it! It looks brand new! She did a GREAT job and her prices were very reasonable. I am happy to recommend her to any and all.

Barb missed an appointment with an out of town bridesmaid, was never available through the shop and wanted everyone to drive to her home, continued to forget to make alterations on my dress, "fixed" the sash on my bridesmaids' dresses differently, and did such hasty and sloppy work that two of my bridesmaids had to ask for refunds and get their dressed altered again the week of the wedding because she made them inches smaller when she was only supposed to be fixing a sash and nothing more. Take my advice and look elsewhere!

Barbara was so great. She worked with me throughout all the fittings, and she was reasonably priced. She created my veil and fixed up my dress that I had purchased from a sample sale. Her shop is in her house, so don't expect a fancy bridal salon. What she lacks in location she makes up in quality and value. The dress was perfect!

DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. Throughout my experience with Barb, appointments were forgotten and canceled last minute, alterations were not completed by the day of the next appointment for a fitting and two of my dresses were stained while in her care. When I expressed my concern over these matters I was blown off or given a HUGE attitude. One of the girls in my bridal party was even screamed at in a Starbuck's parking lot when she went to retrieve her dress. We were treated very poorly, told that PROM gowns were more important than my dresses for my wedding party, never given an apology and got the run-around when trying to get a refund that we were promised. This was by far the most STRESSFUL part of my wedding planning. Two days before my wedding, NONE of the dresses were complete and two were ruined with wax and food stains. I would NEVER reccommend this service to anyone. NOT A PROFESSIONAL in any sense of the word.

Barb has an alterations business specializing in bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and mother-of-the-bride dresses. I can't thank her enough for the work she did on my dress - she did an AMAZING job! I ordered a size too big because I was measured exactly for the size lower and was worried it would be too tight. So she had to take it in a lot. On top of that, the dress I received did not look exactly like the dress online, so she worked her magic and made it look exactly like I wanted it by adding scalloped lace to the neckline in the front and back and making several other adjustments. You couldn't even tell the added lace from the original dress! After she was done, the dress fit like a glove and was my dream dress. It was gorgeous and I got so many compliments. I highly recommend her!!