The Singing Seamstress

f of those gowns are similiarly form-fitting; of those, a majority are of design types that are at least – if not more so – as intricate as your own gown design. Between my high rating, established expertise, and the sheer number of satisfied brides, I feel you misspoke when you accused my work of showing “lack of finesse, skill and attention to detail.” I spoke at length with the seamstress who did the final cleanup on your bodice. Again, you appear to have misspoken, as she advised me that “appalled” was not the word she used in describing the condition of the work thus far. In fact, unlike your own description of the events, she also did not “redo the entire bodice” or “move the darts.” You were correct when you stated she cut the seam allowances; however, she agreed with me that she normally leaves them intact, and cut them primarily on your own direction. (As this is a public response to a public review I feel it only fair to put this in context. The copious beading was attached to ALL layers of the gown, which of course is highly unusual and irregular. Between the work of both myself and the second seamstress, we were able to minimize the adverse effect of the beading. However, the only way to have completely removed the issue would have been to undo each individual bead – of which there were thousands – and reattach them to the gown. Based on your budget and the time frame needed to complete the alterations, this would have proven an impossible task for anyone.) I believe that your review was unjust in stating that I am not qualified to do form-fitting bodices and that I should stick to “simple wedding dresses and costumes.” My years-long experience has allowed me to successfully create, craft, and alter a myriad of highly intricate gowns with no dissatisfaction from the brides. Additionally, I believe there are countless cosplayers and festival professionals who might take exception to your implication that costumes don’t require the same dedication and attention to detail. I am glad that you were able to get things resolved to your satisfaction; however I believe if you had just called me before taking the gown to another seamstress – adding lost time and additional expense to your wedding preparations – I could have addressed all of your issues to your satisfaction.

ose are five star reviews, all awarded to me by all brides and bridal parties and all for my work on wedding attire. The reviews consistently mention things like expert knowledge, creativity, excellent workmanship, attention to detail, low or no stress experience and passion for her work. The Knot acknowledges certain vendors for their excellent reviews with an award for Best of Weddings in their category. Because of the number and content of my reviews, I have received this award for the last two years in a row. Sometimes, the hardest part for a bride in the wedding preparation process is discovering she cannot have it all in one dress. As a seamstress, I do my best to advise on the issues of subjects such as the limitations of fabric, weight, and design; but, if a client is insistent on their wants, I will make those exact changes. However, I always advise and set expectations before beginning any work. In the case of this dress, we were working against many odds. A very beautiful and delicate piece, this dress was a floor sample from the boutique, Marry Go Round, which specializes in secondhand dresses and floor samples from other bridal boutiques. One can presume that this gown was a model from either last year or the year before based on what I know of Marry Go Round’s practices; thus there was no way of knowing how many times the dress had been handled or worn before this bride purchased it. The bodice was an illusion piece made of one layer of very lightweight tulle with heavy beading, which means that physics was against us from the beginning, as tulle is prone to tearing because of its delicateness, and doubly so with the addition of any weight. I explained to the bride that adding anything to the already overburdened bodice was a gamble. This, coupled with the used condition of the gown, would make for a challenge for any seamstress. The dress also included a large ballroom style skirt with many layers of floaty fabric including tulle. The bride insisted on a slit over one of her legs. I strongly advised against it because the slit wouldn’t show, as all the voluminous layers would just close in on themselves. In the end I gave in to the bride’s demands, but with predictable results. At the next fitting, the bride’s sister joined us and agreed with me. The bride seemed confused at the fitting as to why the slit didn’t work. I reminded her again that even an expert can’t fight physics and that I’d explained this to her at the outset. She requested that I close the slit back up, which I did. Arguably, my first “mistake” was that I gave in against my better judgement on the slit. This is the price we sometimes pay for the concept of “the customer is always right.” Once again, the design of the dress was already asking quite a bit from the fabrics the designer chose, but then to couple that with the unknown number of times it was handled as a floor sample… it was a lot to go back in and add more weight like additional material and beading - all of which I explained time and time again. The new sleeves were made from the same material as the bodice, and so is prone to tearing. It would not have mattered if I had used a “more stretchy” version of it. The armpit area is one of the most challenging areas to fit correctly as it is an area of extreme movement. Coupling that with a delicate fabric again is asking for trouble. I chose to glue the rhinestones on, instead of stitching them on, to avoid tears to the delicate material. The pictures the bride provided on her review on my FB page do show a tiny bit of glue beyond some of the stones, which is not irregular even from a manufactured gown, and certainly not “all over the place.” I do admit that I initially went contrary to the bride’s wishes by providing her full length sleeves instead of ¾ length sleeves. I made this decision based on my expertise and experience. The bride’s vision for the dress was impractical and did not take into account its limitations and style, and I wanted to salvage it the best I could. Long sleeves can easily and quickly be made into ¾ sleeves but not the other way around, so I wanted to make insure that she was comfortable with her choice. I, of course, shortened them when she decided on her requested ¾ length. As for the extended train, this was advised against by both myself and the bride’s sister. Adding that feature would have involved taking the dress completely apart. However, contrary to the bride’s false statement, the fabric did not go to waste. Her sister suggested a long dramatic veil with beads which she agreed to. Beading the veil took quite a bit of time. As I explained to both bride and sister, most non-professionals do not realize that beads need to be applied individually by hand; there is no way of doing that by machine, and the process takes a formidable amount of time. Thus, half of her total expenses was spent on the veil, which also was explained to her. My two goals as a bridal seamstress is for the bride to feel like royalty on her special day and to have a stress-free experience with me. I’m truly disappointed anytime a client is unhappy and I always strive to get it right. If the bride had done more than cursorily examined the gown at the final fitting before accepting it, I could and would have made any additional changes that were desired and possible. I have no way of knowing what occurred between pickup and now, but waiting all this time to come back with issues is disconcerting. Who knows how many more times the dress was handled and in what way. This was perhaps my second “mistake” - not insisting that she look it over as carefully as she had done on every other fitting occasion. It should have been a red flag to me that she left her fine tooth comb at home. As with every other bridal transaction in the industry, payment for and acceptance of an item is implicit and explicit approval of said item. Waiting a month or two and then coming back with complaints is unacceptable, especially when the bride has already taken the gown to another seamstress. While I highly doubt that this will deter the bride from her crusade of smearing my reputation wherever possible, I hope that I have put the minds of other clients – past, present and future – at ease, and will gladly further answer any other concerns from you.

fference in a dress I create from the ground up and a dress I perform alterations on for a client. I will always offer the same superior service and attention to detail, but there are some differences and one is that performing alterations is a bit more transactional. When the dress is picked up and the client signs off on it, my work is complete. For instance, when Tamara came to me she requested certain changes to the dress and I quoted her the number of hours required to complete those changes. I completed the work on the low side of that quotation and when the dress was picked up, the fitting went smoothly and successfully. It was an entire month later when Tamara reached out and requested I make another change to her dress which included adding on materials to the neckline (materials she hadn’t yet chosen or purchased). To be clear, this was a change that was not part of the original set of alterations. While I am always happy to make changes, I was also asked to rush this change and would likely need to meet her at a fabric store to help select the necessary materials. Essentially, this was a new request rather than an adjustment to work I had already performed. If I am to pull my attention from my existing orders to complete an entirely new set of changes for a previous client, I’m absolutely happy to do so. I’ll burn the midnight oil if need be, but there is a premium for that. When I communicated this, I didn’t hear back from Tamara. Even still, after paying for the second set of changes, the total spent would still have fallen within my original estimate. This is because I work quickly and efficiently, but I am an artisan and my time is valuable. In the end, although all the work wasn’t all completed by me, I’m thrilled Tamara was able to have her dress altered the second time and completed in time for her wedding.

s I think that every bride should feel beautiful, confident and comfortable on her wedding day. There were many factors that made this project challenging including several design changes mid production, a stringent budget and unclear communication. I worked well beyond the quoted hours to continue making all requested changes; and while this dramatically exceeded my quoted labor, I did not increase my billable hours. When a bride comes for a final fitting and leaves with her dress, I always trust she is thrilled and looking forward to her big day. In the off chance that an issue does arise, my dresses come with a warranty. It is for this reason that it comes as quite a surprise that this dress was hastily taken to another seamstress. I would have expected and appreciated the opportunity to make the adjustments and sadly, per the contract, authorizing someone else to work on the dress voided the warranty.