Great service - helped me fix my wedding dress on such short notice. Thanks Joan - would highly recommend

I've been thinking for a while about leaving a review, but I cannot in good conscience keep quiet about my experience with Joan and let anyone - let alone another bride wanting to get their wedding dress altered - go through what I did. We came in February with my dress and had a great time with Joan talking about what we would like done to the dress and when it would be ready. She said two weeks and she would call us when it was ready. The two weeks came and went with no call but since she said they would be easy fixes, and we were three months out from the wedding I wasn't worried. HOWEVER After two months of radio silence, I called to check up on the dress and tried for multiple days to get a hold of Joan as she did not have a voicemail box to leave a message. I was finally able to get a hold of her and schedule an appointment for myself and my mother to come in for a "final fitting" that weekend. We get there and Joan says she was swamped with prom season so time got away from her - I get it. I, too, have let projects get away from me. As we're talking though, we have to remind her about our due date (two weeks at this point), what my dress looks like, and what we're doing to it. Now, is it my fault for letting it go that long with no contact? Yes absolutely, and I recognize that. However, we had to find my dress in her workspace which was exactly where we had left it, and no work had been done on it. For three months. I tried it on again and for a third time told Joan what we wanted done and when we can expect it to be ready. She says we can come by later that week to pick it up. My mom and I leave and are just sort of shocked at the whole thing. I had read reviews online that a few people had posted saying that after voicing concerns with Joan she gave them back their items and told them to go somewhere else. I was terrified of voicing anything negative in fear that this would happen as I did not have time to find a new seamstress. My mom agreed to come back with me to the next appointment as moral support (and to be my backbone if needed). So we go back, there are minor adjustments that need to be done. No big deal, Joan says, and she can get them done by this weekend. My mom confirms that she will have everything completed as it is now a week until the wedding. Joan says that 100% we can pick it up completed that weekend. The weekend comes, I pick up the dress after a try on and everything is perfect. She said she had to essentially take the whole dress apart and put it back together and rang up a $350 price tag. I didn't say anything except "thank you" and booked it out of there. I want to make clear that I do not have an issue with the final version of my dress. It looks perfect and I love it; however, the journey of making it there was such a major issue with undue stress. I understand I am partially to blame for that, yes, but having no record of clientele and what their requests were, nor a listed due date I think really exacerbated the entire situation. read more

Joan did an AMAZING job on my wedding dress. She truly cares and wants you to look the most beautiful you possibly can on your wedding day. She had great suggestions about removing/adding lace in certain places to make the dress more flattering. She is very talented. She did wonders with my mother in law's dress too and made it look perfect. Very happy with Joan and her services read more

BEWARE!!!! Is there negative 1 million stars? She claims to be your fairy godmother, when in reality she is a fairy godmonster. Her shop is a messy, disaster and she doesn't know where anything is which we were willing to overlook because she got good reviews as a seamstress. The first fitting was in February then we never heard from her and were unable to reach her. We had to stop by in order to make the next appointment. She couldn't find the veil but didn't have time to look for it because apparently she had taken on more than she could handle and told us we could look for it because she was busy and the Bride was being selfish for being upset the veil was nowhere to be found. We offered to come back later after she finished what she was doing. Then she totally turned on us, was totally unprofessional, made the Bride cry, rushed all around until she found the veil, then gave everything back and told us she wouldn't sew for us. We were in shock! She is a horrible person and now that this happened a lot of the things she said all along make sense such as last week told us not to piss her off, she believes anxiety is not a real thing, and argued with the bride about wanting a light sleeve added among other rude comments. When calling other seamstresses we learned this apparently happens frequently with her. Don't go to her unless you like to be traumatized. read more

Joan is a real gem! She is an amazing seamstress and a pleasure to do business with. She is very conscientious, reliable and her services are very reasonably priced. Thanks!!! read more

I wish I could give a ZERO. I had brought Joanie Jenkins a Christmas cross-stitch Stocking i had Cross stitched for my beautiful grand niece in May, early June at the latest. I wanted Joanie to finish it, since she is a professional, it would be something treasured for many years if completed correctly. I told her when dropped off, that she had free range on completing and I would pay whatever she thought was appropriate. I went back to her shop many times and wedding dresses always had taken precedence over my assignment for her. Early August I went by and she told me it would we done by early September. Early September, Joanie told me she had a bunch of early September Weddings, but the stocking would be completed by mid- September. I did not ask again till beginning of October. Again, every wedding dress was given priority to over something I had asked to be completed four months prior. I went back early November and was promised it would be completed by Thanksgiving. I went back today, since she promised Thanksgiving . Frankly, Joanie Jenkins could have cared less that she had not even touched it. Joanie simply handed it to me very nonchalant and said that again she had just done a bunch of wedding dresses. If Joanie Jenkins didn't want my business, why was she so open to accepting it to begin with. Joanie Jenkins was given a simple Christmas Stocking with to complete with 100% trust, and only Joanie's own barriers. And in six months time, she completed NOTHING. read more

I had the pleasure of using Joan's services. She altered my wedding dress by shortening the straps and length of the dress to accommodate my petite frame. She was very personable -- but at times, was absent-minded (at the time I worked with her, her shop was overflowing with dresses because it was Prom season). It took a total of 3-4 visits before my wedding dress was complete (she had to shorten the straps, hem the dress, and add a bustle in the back.) The total cost of alterations for my dress? $75. Her prices can't be beat. If you're in no hurry to get your altered item back and are money-conscious, she's the to go-gal. read more

Amazing work every time. Joan is one of a kind and always goes above and beyond to get the job done

I live for joanie. This woman saved my dress. I had used the alterations department where i had bought my dress and they were horrific. So a week and a half before my wedding i had to find someone to fix my destroyed dress. Joanie was my fairy godmother. She had visions, ideas and the ability to fix my dress. She did wonders, made it perfect and saved my life essentially. I would recommend to anyone and everyone in the world. read more

Joan is not only an excellent streamstress, she is one of the nicest people you will meet. I bought a maxi dress to wear at a friend's wedding, however, it was too long. Because she is so talented she is very busy so I gave her as much time as possible and she did not disappoint. I love this lady! read more

I had dropped off my prom dress with her and she said she could do all the alterations i needed and even more, all she needed was 7-10 days. i came back 2 weeks later and the dress was not even touched or moved from where i had left it. and her studio is very messy and unorganized read more

Verry satisfied with the service I received and the proffesional behavior towards me. Thank you very much for everything.

I had a bride's maid dress that needed minor alterations and I found this seamstress through the yelp reviews. She altered the sleeves and neckline to fit better and bustled the dress. It all cost $40 Pro: The end product was great and she ironed the dress. Joan has a nice friendly personality which made for a relaxed encounter Con: The place was extremely cluttered, her business practice is very informal-there were no receipt when I left the dress-verbal transaction, there was no set price and the final price was higher than the range initially quoted, and no set time when the dress would be ready. She only wrote down my phone number which was attached to the dress. When I left, I was very unsure if it was a wise thing to have left my dress. I called back over a week and I had to describe the dress before she remembered; however, when she finally got it, she remembered what needed to be done to the dress. After that call, I arranged a pickup time two days later. In the end, I was satisfied with her work. I could overlook the hoarder-esq room and some aspect of the informal business style but I was not happy with not getting a set price for service. The final alterations cost was a little more than half the cost of the dress. read more

Do not use! We ordered a special item for an event and she put it on the back burner to complete other orders. When we called to ask what happened to our order, she cursed at us over the phone. Not very professional if you ask me. read more

Joan is awesome! She helped me out in a pinch and does great work. On top of that, she's incredibly sweet and friendly. Treats everyone like a top client. Her shop isn't the prettiest, but I will only take my clothes to her from now on! read more

She is amazing. She is quick and good at what she does. She is friendly and nurturing. I had to bring my 8 month old baby with me to my appointment and she cried the entire time. Joan helped soothe her and then helped me take her out to my car at the end of the appointment. If youre a mother you know how much the little things like that mean! read more

Joanie knows her stuff. She truly has mastered her talent. I didn't mind the environment, what mattered to me was who was altering my wedding gown and if they would care and repair it in a manner as if it were their own. Joanie does just that. I had called her at one point to tell her I lost some weight. When I went in for the fitting, she told me she took it in a little bit already to adjust for the weight loss. The dress fit near perfect! I couldn't believe she knew exactly how much to take in without me being there! Honestly, she is going to be my seamstress for everything. I am so happy she was recommended to me. I highly recommend her!!! read more

I took my wedding dress to Joans shop, yes it's a bit of a cluster in there, however I was recommended by a friend of mine so I looked past the space. Joan was so friendly and positive and she took me right away, I tried it on, she added some pins and a week later my dress was perfect, fit perfect, fixed the zipper that snagged a bit from purchase, and added a tie to keep my straps in place. She did steam my dress and it was exactly as I hoped. She was great and I would recommend her to anyone. read more

When first working with Joanie she was very pleasant and enjoyable to speak with. She's very smart and is excellent at what she does. With our flexible time table for the first job we had with her, she was able to get our not so easy project (not a typical seamstress job) done and was VERY reasonable with pricing. Working with her for a couple months now I asked if she could fit in some more of the project items and she started to get somewhat snippy with me and wanted me to learn to sew them. Well, if I had time and the right machine, I would have done them myself. My thinking was that if she's unable to or doesn't want to take on the work she just needs to inform her clients she can't, no problem! After finding an actual industrial seamstress for the remainder of the project materials that was that. A week later, I brought in a blouse that needed to be taken in on the sides. I'm always nice and bubbly when I come into her shop and look past the way the shop is kept because that's just how she works and I don't hold that against her. She asked, Why don't you take in the sides? I responded that I'd love to but I don't know how and didn't want to mess it up. After standing around and chatting with her and another person in the room for about 5 min, I asked if she would have time to fit my blouse into her schedule. She turned to me and in a very demeaning tone said why don't you try it on and stop wasting my time. She had spoken to me a couple times before in a belittling way and I brushed it off but this was the last time I would be spoken to in that tone. I don't care how good she is, I will unfortunately not recommend her to my friends and will not return. If others work with her on a frequent basis she may very well start talking down to them too, deal with it as you wish. I think what may have set her off was that I was willing to volunteer to make job slips for people to fill out for their items and would have loved to create a rack for all incoming items to be hung to keep organized. She took offense to that and I'm sorry for that but I was just trying to be nice and help someone who does so much for others. Oh well. read more

Will never use this place again because of lack of professionalism, use North Cleaners and alterations on Market street. I needed sleeves shortened on a leather jacket . Joan said it would be ready in about10 days to two weeks, I came back after 14 days on Friday. She seemed nice, said sorry it's not ready come back tomorrow, Saturday. I arrived at 11:30 on Saturday, she then reached for a bag and Tossed the jacket at me in a huff and said I can't do it and good luck finding someone who can work on leather. In 30 minutes I found A PROFESSIONAL alterations, North Cleaners and Alterations @ 413 N. Market street, excellent job completed in one week. read more

I recently had Joanie alter my wedding dress my taking in the waist, creating a bustle that can be dropped into a train and hemming it. She did a fantastic job and made me feel so comfortable and welcome every single time I walked through her doors. At first I was actually nervous about how difficult the dress would be to alter because I planned to wear a corset underneath which takes my waist down by around four inches and I already have a 12 inch difference between my bust and waist. However after looking at a few of the dresses Joanie was already working on and talking with her a bit I knew she could handle it and felt much better. My dress turned out beautifully and I'm so glad I went with Joanie. read more

Joan is one of the few excellent seamstresses I have run across in a very long time. With meticulous attention to detail, she does exactly what is asked for and flawlessly. She pleased my mom with her work and that is not easy, believe me! She was a seamstress herself and very picky but Joan passed even her exacting standards! Thanks Joan, we'll be back! read more

My daughter took her maid of honor dress in for a slight alteration. After the dress being in Joan's shop for 2weeks, I called to see if it was ready and could be picked up. She told me that it needed to be steamed and to come later in the afternoon to pick it up. As soon as I entered her coffee shop/ alterations shop, my heart dropped as I was appalled at the condition of the shop. There was clothes, dirty dishes, trash, and junk laying all over everything. I honestly don't know how the health department allows her to serve coffee in that place! The dress was not ready as promised as she said that she still had to steam it. I waited for about 15 minutes as she took the dress into a back room to (as she told me) "work her magic on it". When she brought the dress out to me, she showed me spots that were now all over the front of my daughter's dress and a said it "was because the material was from the rainforest and it had reacted with her steamer". She told me that it was no big deal and she was going to take it to her cleaner at 4 am because she was the "professional". I initially left the dress with her to take to her cleaners, but before I got half way home, I decided that I was very uncomfortable with that decision and went back to get it. As I entered the store once again, there was my daughter s dress just hanging on a hook without any protection on it and in an area where people were drinking coffee and anyone could have touched it causing further staining to the garment. I told Joan that I wanted the dress back and I was going to take it to my own cleaners. She told me several times that I couldn't have the dress because she was the "professional" and it was "no big deal"! I finally was able to get the dress from her and as I was leaving the store she called after me and said " if this is the worst thing that happens to your wedding consider yourself lucky and have a nice day because I know I always do!" I don't consider taking in a $150 dress for simple alterations and coming out with a coffee splattered dress ( at least that is what I and my cleaners believe the stains to be from) 3 weeks before my other daughter's wedding to be "no big deal". Joan kept telling me over and over that she was a professional... I don't think most "professionals" would (a) make alterations on a green dress with tan thread or (b) not take extra precautions on keeping the garment clean and free from stains! STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUSINESS!!! read more

If I could give this 0 stars, I would. I took my Prom dress here after reading a bunch of great reviews. She said she could do all the work I asked for (had to take out the fabric to make bigger, as well as add straps). My prom is in 2 days and I still have not received my dress. I have received 2 calls saying it was ready, and when I went in the first time she said it was ready, she had not even started working on it. I should have turned around and left right then but she assured me it would be ready by the following Wednesday ( 9 days before prom) So I went in and still not finished. But it was ripped apart and looked awful. So she said to call on Monday because it would definitely be done, and again wasn't. Tuesday she calls me and says she doesnt have the material for my straps, and that I need to go to a store and find some. So I did and brought it to her, and she said it would be ready by Wednesday. Thursday she still didn't have it. I am busy Friday and so I am getting my dress tonight and hopefully a friend can help me finish it. Do not go here, she offers low prices but it is not worth the drama. read more