My sister brought her wedding dress here for alterations. We came to this tailor on the recommendation of a friend, whose own wedding dress had been damaged by a different tailor and repaired here at Sara's Alterations many years ago--her repairs were done by the owner.
The dress has simple, clean lines, and the alterations my sister needed were simple. During the first fitting, it became apparent that not only had Sara's Alterations damaged her dress, but they had also simply not followed directions. The tailor had promised five pickups; there were only three. The straps were uneven. The hem was uneven and sloppily done. The horsehair trim--one of my sister's favorite details on the dress--had been hemmed unevenly and there were many small holes along the seam line. There was excess horsehair fabric left adding to the sloppy appearance of this favored feature. A belt was adjusted and attached as requested, but not evenly placed/centered, adding to our dissatisfaction. Needless to say, my family was horrified.
We attempted to bring the dress to another tailor for repair. Why would we trust this tailor a second time? However we were not able to find another tailor who was willing to correct someone else's mistakes; we were told this was more likely to ruin the dress further. So, if you choose to take your clothes to this tailor, be forewarned: there is a strong likelihood they will be damaged, and you will then struggle to find another tailor to help you pick up the pieces (we went all over Greensboro).
My family returned to Sara's Alterations to discuss what could be done next. My mother requested that the owner (who had repaired the friend's dress) personally work on the dress; we did not want the other tailor, Mary, causing further damage. The owner informed us that he would not be able to do that, as he was leaving the country in a few days for two months. Mind you, this was after he admitted that the dress had indeed been damaged at the hands of his employee. I am a small business owner myself, and I was really surprised to hear that the owner was willing to walk away from such a huge misstep by one of his employees. Doesn't he know that people talk? The way I see it, he had a few days in which he could have chosen to correct his employee's errors and preserve the integrity of his business. But here we are.
The second fitting was not much better than the first. While the really obvious mistakes from the first fitting had been fixed (the straps were even and the dress now had five pickups), the work overall was sloppy, and the horsehair detail my sister loved so much was a nightmare. The original horsehair was gone, as it had to be removed and replaced due to the sloppy work initially done. The horsehair Mary had replaced it with was extremely cheap looking, not at all like the original fabric. Frankly it would have been preferable if she had not replaced it at all (the bride's words, not mine).
To top it all off, my family was charged $500 for this "service." We were originally quoted $550. When we pointed out that the dress had been damaged by Sara's Alterations, and to such a degree that it was not able to be restored to its original condition--not to mention the mental and emotional anguish this caused for my mother and sister, for whom this dress was an expense not taken lightly--the owner's son offered to take FIFTY dollars off of the charge. That's less than a 10% discount, folks--for a dress that was damaged, with alterations that bombed not once but twice.
Last but not least, I heard from the tailor who I brought my own dress to, that she had another bride come in one week after my sister with a damaged dress from Sara's Alterations. She claims this bride had to replace her dress entirely. BE AWARE if you decide to use this tailor. read more