I have used this tailor before for coat alterations and was happy with the results. However, my…read moremost recent experience was quite different. A pair of pants took eight weeks to be altered, with very little communication throughout. When I then brought in a dress for alterations, I was told they would not take it as it is not a bridal item. I found this disappointing, especially as a returning customer.

If I could give 6 stars, I would. Lilianne hemmed my Daughter's grad dress. it wasn't simple. lace…read moreoverlay with scalloped hem. My phone call was returned. I was asked for photos and given a quote for 2 options. less expensive option cut lace, sew scalloped edging back on. Second much more expensive option was to remove skirt and hem from the waist, not easy as there are 2 layers and a zipper. Daughter chose the less expensive option. When we picked up the dress Lilianne had made the executive decision to hem from the waist as she felt that cutting the lace would interrupt the pattern too much. We were not charged for the upgrade. Other local seamstress suggested my daughter wear higher heels. No way we could add another 4 inches to her already high heels.

I had the great pleasure of accompanying my soon to be daughter in law when she had her wedding…read moredress made at Sew Sweet Rose Bridal. She had the designed the dress and Cinda made it into reality. They draped lace after lace over the bride to be to be until she found the one that she loved. They took exact measurements, drew a sketch and made our bride to be the dress of her dreams! Our Bride was happy and comfortable wearing the dress she designed and looking so beautiful. It was the second time I had this pleasure as my daughter had her wedding dress made by Cinda as well. The two dresses couldn't have been more different and both were so lovely. As with the first time Cinda made a small suggestion that really added to the dress! Thank you to Cinda and her assistants. You are treasures!

This is a lovely little store tucked away on "Bridal Row" on Columbia Street. The store is small…read moreand cozy with one side for bridal dresses, the other side for long prom/bridesmaid-type dresses, and there's a little middle row in the store for shorter formal dresses including a couple bridal-type varieties. There didn't seem to be a huge selection since again, the store is smaller, but what was there was quite pretty. There were no pushy salesmen/salesladies to deal with here - the woman working at the times I went was very laid back and friendly and totally lets you browse at your own pace. The alterations service is where this store shines though, at least in my case. I'd bought a dress elsewhere and had a really unfortunate experience there with alterations. I brought it in here to see if there was anything to be done to fix up the damage, and the woman mentioned before immediately knew what to do to get the dress looking better. My only regret was not taking the dress to be altered here in the first place because she really did a great job in repairs. While I didn't need this particular service at the time, they do offer custom dresses as well. I actually got a peek at a dress in-progress while I was picking up my own and from what I could see the quality was very good. I would definitely come back if I ever needed anything altered again, especially another dress. I overall loved the relaxed feel of the store and customer service was excellent. This is certainly a place to at least take a look-see if you're in need of bridal dresses, formal wear, or alterations.

My husband and I went to Alison at Manuel Mendoza for the alterations to our wedding attire and we…read morecouldn't have been more pleased with the amazing work she does! Neither of us had ever been to a seamstress before, and therefore were very apprehensive about the whole process, but Alison is both personable and professional and left us feeling like our garments were in good hands. And sure enough, upon receiving back out outfits they were perfect! We got so many compliments on our wedding attire, and I give a lot of credit to Alison for making sure they fit us just right :) Her prices are also reasonable and we look forward to using her services again for future alteration needs!

We had an amazing experience working with Hana on alteration of my Mother of the Bride dress. She…read morealso did a wonderful redesign job of my daughter's bridal dress. The bridal dress had complicated lacing and beading but Hana managed to put them together. My daughter was extremely happy with her redesigned dress. Hana's creativity and professionalism is commendable. If anyone is looking for a good seamstress, she will be the one person I guarantee will surpass your expectations. Thank you, Hana for making both of us happy walking out of your studio.

This place is a surprisingly busy little shop way out in Langley (I live in East Van), but it came…read morehighly recommended. I have got to say, Van is a very skilled, competent tailor. She has had the store since 1993, & has over 30 years of experience. I had to be picky for a reason. She was entrusted with the difficult task of altering my wedding dresses! My traditional white dress needed a bunch of work done to it. Some of it was standard stuff - it needed a bustle, & needed to be hemmed. However, my dress was poufy & had a few layers of silk & tulle, which made it a bit trickier than the standard slinky dress. Then she had to take in the bust...but my dress didn't have a seam down the sides & was covered in lace. Van had to create a seam, cover it back up with the lace, and make it look like nothing had ever happened there. She also had to create a sweetheart neckline. Did i mention that it was also low backed? Easier or more difficult? Am I the nightmare customer everyone dreads having? Why yes, yes I am! My other dress, which was a form fitting, open backed, neck high, red lace cheongsam-inspired fishtail beauty, also needed a complete overhaul! I ordered it online, from China, and I gave the sellers all the correct measurements, but when I received it, nothing fit right! I had to have 1 of 2 inner linings taken out, neckline of the lining lowered, waist taken in, upper chest part shortened (which meant taking out the mandarin collar, adjusting the lace, & putting the collar back on), sleeves taken in & open back material adjusted so it sat right. Anyway, she pretty much made it into a new dress! I can't believe she did such a great job with my dresses and in a reasonable time, too...and both my maid of honour & bridesmaid got their dresses altered with her too! All the guests loved the outfits. I owe it all to her for making them fit. If I ever have to get a fancy gala ball gown for the Oscars altered, I know where to go. Other services: -Prom dress season alterations! You think a wedding dress is hard? Look at these monstrous grad dresses with beads, pleats, ruffles, sequins, metallic fabrics, bright colours with nowhere to hide flaws! These things can be extreme! -Van also sells handmade cheongsam & traditional Vietnamese clothes for guys, gals & kids, with silk fabrics straight from China & Vietnam. Amazing work. -All the regular kinds of alterations are done here too - pants/jeans hemmed, suits, dress shirts, leather, whatever it is, she can do it! Open 6 days a week! Sundays closed. Gotta take a break some time.

Went here to get some simple alterations done on a vintage wedding dress I bought. The lady took…read moreone look at it and told me it would be expensive and started saying what she'd need to do before I even told her what I wanted done. I said do you want to see it on me so I can show you what I'd like brought in. She shrugged her shoulders and said yeah. I couldn't be bothered with her lack of interest. I did not feel comfortable leaving the dress I planned to get married in with a lady who seems to not care at all about my business. I said okay well I'll just go see what my other options are out there. She said okay and walked away. Really?!

Fatima, you are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! You are a multi-talented artist, with ideas and know-how: you can…read more'adapt' an outfit from something old which didn't fit anymore into the a new, most beautiful, greatly adequate outfit which besides being a pleasure to wear again, will always be noticed and commented by others. Your quality of work is impeccable. Ladies, try her ... you will be super happy, I guarantee it. ingrid

Fatima does very nice work, if a tad pricy. One word of caution: do NOT leave your good hangers…read morewith her. I recently brought in a suit for alteration, and was about to remove it from its beautiful wooden hangers imprinted with the name of the suit, and take the hangers home. No, said Fatima, leave the suit on the hangers. When I picked up my suit, it was returned to me on a wire hanger and a ratty old pant hanger. When I asked Fatima where my wooden hangers were, pointing to the label on the suit, I got no response. She just thrust my suit on its wire hanger towards me. I asked if my hangers were in the back, but again, no response. I feel it was irresponsible and unbusinesslike of Fatima to insist a customer leave her good hangers if she had no intention of keeping track of them and returning them to the owner.

I waited 3 months for my special ordered dress to come. When it arrived, it was too big (I have…read morenot lost nor gained weight) and needed a lot of alterations. The alterations were almost $400 and when the dress came back from being altered, it was still not right - gaping under the arms, shoulder straps still too long, and way too big up top (I couldn't fill up the space even if the dress allowed me to wear a bra and I stuffed it). The seamstress only works Saturdays, and with only 11 days to the wedding by the time it came back into the store 5 weeks later, there was no time to get her to make it right. She was also visibly frustrated that I was unhappy, so she is not very accommodating nor sympathetic to my being upset at the state of the dress. The dress itself was beautiful and well-priced, so I give the store credit for having lots of options to choose from. Just beware that if your dress needs to be ordered (not off the rack), you will very likely need to get it altered so allow budget and time for that too.

Amazing dresses and customer service. I found many different styles for reasonable prices…read more Highly recommend!

I would not recommend anyone get their alterations done here if you have a wedding gown with lace…read moredetails that you care to keep. I've added photos of the result of their work, since I know that this can all be very subjective. I went to Clara's to get my wedding gown altered. The alterations were to shorten the hem (4 layers of fabric), and to add a 3 point over bustle. I didn't need any other alterations since the dress already fit me pretty well. I dropped off the dress on 4/16/25, and initial pick up was on 6/18/25. Total cost of alterations was around $425. My dress had a lot of lace details all over it, all the way down to the bottom of the dress. My biggest worry in getting the dress shortened was finding a seamstress who knew how to work with lace. I was feeling pretty good about having my dress altered at Clara's since they had 30 years of experience and Carrie had mentioned needing to take time to move all of the lace up, which was the reason alterations would take so long. When I picked up the dress, I was initially satisfied with the length of the dress, but it wasn't until I got home that I noticed that they had cut straight through the lace as a means of hemming the dress. Additionally, I found that the edge itself looked unprofessionally finished to my novice eye, with some edges cut unevenly and a flower applique left at the very edge of the hem. I reached out to Carrie about this, and she claimed that this was the industry standard approach for dresses with lace. When meeting her in person, she went through several other reasons for why the dress was altered the way it was, including: - This is an industry standard approach for hemming dresses with lace. - The small bits were left on in order to preserve as much of the lace as possible. - It's not a scalloped lace hem. The lace cannot be removed because it is integrated, they are not appliques. - Removing the lace has a chance of damaging the tulle layer. - The cut of the hem is supposed to be uneven because that gives it a flowy look. - The fabric is difficult to cut straight, and it was only straight before because it was made in a factory. - There were 5 inches of material that had to be removed, which is a lot of material. - She didn't know she had to tell me before cutting through the lace, as no one else has complained about it in the past. - Her tailor knows best because of all his experience working on wedding dresses, she doesn't even need to tell him what to do so she didn't think to ask about doing something different with the lace. Overall, I felt extremely uncomfortable trying to get a resolution to these issues with her. I mentioned to her about how everyone I asked, including family, friends and internet strangers, said that the work didn't look right and that it looked poorly done, and she told me that none of them knew anything about how the industry actually works. When I asked if I could take it to a different tailor for a second opinion, she told me that it was offensive that I would even suggest that. In the end, she told me that she's the last person who should be running a business because she cares too much about her brides, and that she felt disrespected and insulted that I would challenge their work when they have over 30 years of experience. I will say that Carrie was extremely responsive throughout this entire process, as frustrating as it was. I do appreciate that from her as I know other places have frequently taken much longer to get back to me about inquiries. She was willing to try to the best of her ability to resolve the situation, and was able to remove some of the small applique pieces that were left over as well as adding some of the cut off lace appliques back on. She also apologized for not knowing she had to tell me before cutting the lace, and created a new handout that goes over how they approaching hemming dresses with lace. I don't agree that what's described on it matches what they did, but I've added a photo of this handout as well so that you can judge for yourself.

I was immediately impressed by the selection this shop has for wedding gowns. As this was my first…read morestore I had gone to in search of that perfect gown. I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking for, but the sales person (whom I'm assuming is the owner) made some great selections for me to try on. I am a size 10-12, and once I tried on a ten that was too snug she was quite brash about making comments about how much weight I planned on losing and kept suggesting that maybe I NEEDED to lose the weight. I left that shop feeling so low about myself and continued to have terrible self esteem issues about looking too fat in my wedding dress. I will point out that she does carry BEAUTIFUL gowns. However I later went and purchased a dress at Sposa Wedding World, Feeling GREAT about who I was, my dress and my curves!