Magic Needle by Yvonne

e pickup to help scrutinize the garment, on and off, for as long as needed. In summary, the dress was several inches too long, the lace on the dress and the veil was sewn on bunched, folded, and crooked, the lace was not placed on the dress as we had discussed at the fitting, the comb was sewn into the veil in the wrong place, and the dress was full of dog hairs. The positive in this experience was a one-button bustle that was easy to use and a well-placed piece of decorative lace sewn onto the bust. Details follow below. I brought my wedding dress in for alterations (6 weeks before the event) and had a veil made (I dropped off the materials 2 weeks before the event). I asked for the dress to be hemmed, the bodice taken in, and the veil constructed. It was agreed that the veil would not affect the timing on the completion of the alterations. At 2 weeks before the event, alterations on the dress had not yet been started. The dress was scheduled to be finished in the week prior to the wedding, but it was not finished until the week of the wedding, 4 days before. I paid $760 for the dress and veil alterations. It was only after a detailed review at home that I was able to figure out the issues. I did not contact her prior to the event to fix the issues I had found because I was not certain that the fixes would have been completed satisfactorily in the two nights between pickup and leaving for the wedding, based on the issues with workmanship. The skirt was full of dog hairs (when I brought this up later, she said it didn’t matter because I had accepted the dress). I made her aware right away at my first fitting that I was very allergic and I couldn’t be anywhere near the dog. She vacuumed the room but then let the dog walk around in it afterwards. The dog followed me into the changing room and stepped on my dress and left a mark (he had just been walking outside and had wet paws). The mark was identified and cleaned. Where the lace was sewn onto the bottom of the dress, the tulle was bunched under the lace on the whole right side of the dress. I had to take the lace off of the front and side sections of the dress and resew it. There were 8 extra inches of the tulle skirt bunched under the lace. The points of the lace were also sewn on crooked. When I mentioned these at my final fitting, she said the tulle would steam flat (it did not) and that the point had to be sewn on crooked so that it didn’t hit another piece of lace (it did not, I removed and straightened it). Additionally, the lace was placed differently from what we discussed at the last fitting. The comb on the veil was sewn very off center. A long triangle of the material had been cut out there, so I had to cut it open and sew in a scrap of material to make it whole. She admitted that the veil was done wrong and I received a $100 partial refund on the $280 charged for the veil (this is the cost of the labor only, not the materials). I spent the last two nights before my wedding fixing the dress and veil. When I informed the owner of the problems, she said she needed to see them, so I drove an hour to the shop. When I got there, she said that because I took the dress, it was legally binding and I couldn’t do anything about it.

e else and going through the whole process again, so I figured I’d deal with the pricing. More than one month after dropping off my dress, I hadn’t heard anything back about it. I called and the woman who answered the phone said, “oh, yeah. It’s ready for you to come in and try it on.” Yet, nobody had called me to tell me that. I made an appointment and went to try it on. It was a little bit tight where she had brought it up (when shortening it,) so she said she would have to let it out an inch or two in the thigh area. She then told me she would charge me an additional $120 to do that. I was flabbergasted that she would charge me more than she had originally quoted me. I made another appointment and left in tears. I ended up having to work late and missed the following appointment. I called to apologize about missing my appointment (and to book the appointment again) and Yvonne got nasty with me. She then told me she was going out of town that exact evening and not returning until my wedding day. She said, and I quote, “It’s not my fault you missed your appointment, you would’ve known I’d be closed had you not missed it.” She then hung up on me. She called back two minutes later to “remind me” that payment was due in cash at the appointment and promptly hung up again. I took full responsibility for my missing the appointment, but her attitude was hurtful, unprofessional, and absolutely uncalled for. I had to go in that evening after work to try on the dress, knowing that even if something was wrong with it, there would be no fixing it as she was leaving town that night. When I tried on my dress, I realized she had let it out a few too many inches. I paid her my remaining balance and now I’ll have to wear a dress that I’m not 100% happy with on my wedding day this upcoming Friday. Of course, I knew having my wedding dress altered would not be cheap, but Yvonne’s prices are outrageous. She is unprofessional and I am very sad that my dress is not right. I will never take my business back to her.

veil and a fur shawl. It was just perfect, Thank you Yvonne.