1. Stephen the Tailor

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Washington, DC, DC

Stephen the Tailor

3.8 (118 reviews)
Closed • 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Updated over 3 months ago

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Services - Stephen the Tailor

Clothing reproduction

Custom tailoring

Stephen the Tailor Photos

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Recommended Reviews - Stephen the Tailor

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Reviews With Photos

A better look at the shirt with the cloud buttons in different sizes.
Wyatt C.

I have utilized the services of this shop a couple of times for a custom project that involve my own fabric and many design elements that I chose before approaching them. I came away with a fantastic outfit, and while I did employ the services of other people for other elements, the work they did here was critical. In fact, I will be heading there again soon with a completely new set of fabrics and a concept similar to the last adventure. In the picture, the jeans and the shirt were what Stephen the Tailor did.

Pins left in dress
Jenna F.

Overall really friendly service, but I fear maybe they were overwhelmed and made careless errors. I had a really positive experience during the fitting, I had two dresses hemmed and one adjusted at the straps. The seamstress was really kind and had me choose the length. The hem price is matched up with what I saw online, but the additional shoulder adjustments were much more expensive than I thought, but after such a positive fitting I was happy to support them with that price. The first issue was a week later: I still had not heard about when I could pick up, I called and they said they could have it ready by the following Monday but my event was on Friday. I had dropped it off almost 2 weeks in advance and was told it would be a 3-5 day turn around. I ended up picking up my dresses the day before my first event. The pick up was so chaotic ahead of a GW LAW event that I decided not to wait in line after multiple people to try on my dress. That was a mistake. My first dress was well hemmed, I wore it to an event and had a great time. At this point I was still willing to say it was a good overall service even with the bumpy pick up. A month later I tried on my second dress, I felt a sharp pinch at my leg. I turned the dress inside out and find that three pins were still left in the dress from when they lifted it to hem. I acknowledge I picked it up the day before the event in the small shop with multiple other people and didn't want to try it on. But that doesn't excuse pins being left in the dress! Imagine if I had sat on one and it had pierced rather than scratched me. For what I paid and how long I waited, I should not have found pins in my dress.

Food stains

I never read negative reviews because I simply feel like who has time in their day to be that picky or upset- but after my experience today at Stephen the Tailor, I will take reviews more seriously. On Oct. 10 I went for a fitting to have alterations done on my bridesmaid dress for my best friends wedding. Chris was great and very helpful. I stated that I needed to pick it up by the 26th for an out of town wedding next weekend. Today (Oct. 27) I went to pick up my "ready" dress and I have never been more displeased with a service in my life. My bridesmaid dress is covered with dried food stains, black stain marks, and oily stain marks. Even my garment bag that I brought the dress in has stains now. I pointed out the numerous stains on my dress to Chris and he said, "well are you sure it was clean when you brought it?"....I'm sorry but who would bring a DIRTY bridesmaid dress to be altered for an upcoming wedding?? Also- on Oct. 10 he saw me unwrap the dress in the store so that was just a rude and ridiculous question. As my mom and I were trying to talk to Chris about compensation- a seamstress came in the suite with her food, and ate at her work station over a dress she was working on. Absolutely unacceptable. They offered to have it dry cleaned but there is no way I would trust them again to ensure my dress is perfect for next weekend. The owner Devon said he would reimburse me for the dry cleaning that I get done- let's hope it doesn't take forever to receive the reimbursement. People work and spend their hard earned money to come and spend at it your business. In no way shape or form is it acceptable to come and pick up something as special as a bridesmaid dress and see it ruined. I left in tears. I pray the dry cleaner can get all of these stains out. DO NOT COME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephen the Tailor's final product!!
Regan J.

I needed a trustworthy tailor to alter my dress for my best friend's wedding and after messaging multiple different tailors, STT provided the most responses, answered all of my questions very timely, and combined with their plethora of stellar reviews, I felt assured that my gown was in good hands. I made an appointment, took the dress in, tried it on and was measured (very respectfully, I'll add) by a kind gentleman. I regret not getting his name to shout him out in this review, but he made sure I was satisfied with all of the adjustments while he pinned and was very kind throughout the process as I asked MANY questions. I took the dress off, paid, and left with a 2 week ticket. Bear with me for this next bit because it's going to sound bad but I promise it isn't. I'm leaving 5 stars on PURPOSE. I so highly recommend this tailor, and plan on returning to them for all my future tailoring needs. However, I would be remiss not to mention that my dress was not ready by the 2 week date I was given at the drop off. As an artist and friend of fashion, I am well aware of the labor, time and effort that goes into composing adjustments. I called the day after my original pickup date to ask if I could come by, and to my shock the dress was not done. They explained that a rush of orders had come in around the same time as mine, put a rush on mine, and apologized for the inconvenience (I was due to leave town by the end of the week for my best friend's wedding, and leaving without the dress was not an option). Luckily, I called with enough time for this rush to take place, and I want to give extra thanks to whoever probably stayed late one night to ensure my dress was finished. When I picked up the dress, it fit like a GLOVE. For my first experience having a gown tailored, it was a chef's kiss, dream-come-true moment. I didn't doubt their skill in the slightest, but seeing the transformation of the dress from slipping-off-of-me to GLOVE was wild and so impressive, especially with the speedy turn around. All around, I'm recommending Stephen the Tailor to anyone and everyone that asks me for a tailor contact.

Tailored dress on the left (black).
Marcella W.

Found this gem and grateful that I did! I was nervous about using tailors around the area and reached out to Stephen several times via yelp to get my questions answered including a quote and if I needed to expedite tailored dress if that was possible. He was extremely responsive and told me to bring the shoes I was planning to wear. Overall loved how Stephen tailored my dress and was able to make a quick 4 day turn around.

The bride resewing the strap of my bridesmaids dress (after 2 hrs of wearing it) due to the poor quality of Stephen the Tailor.

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9 months ago

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1 year ago

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7 months ago

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10 months ago

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5 years ago

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2 years ago

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4 years ago

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4 years ago

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3 years ago

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3 years ago

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7 years ago

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2 years ago

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8 years ago

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4 years ago

Best tailor in DC. Did everything right, on time and at agreed cost. I would highly recommend Stephen.

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Stephen W.

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4 years ago

Thank you for caring about your customers. I took my dress back and it was fixed right away.

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6 years ago

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4 years ago

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5 years ago

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12 years ago

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5 years ago

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3 years ago

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8 years ago

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4 years ago

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4 years ago

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5 years ago

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8 years ago

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9 years ago

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4 years ago

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6 years ago

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4 years ago

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12 years ago

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13 years ago

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16 years ago

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7 years ago

Superb work on oversized suit jacket and dress pants. Good price and will come back for sure.

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Stephen W.

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17 years ago

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Ask the Community - Stephen the Tailor

Review Highlights - Stephen the Tailor

“Did a great job hemming jeans where original bottoms were too worn to retain.”

Mentioned in 3 reviews

Read more highlights

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July 9, 2026 I hate leaving bad reviews so much that I…read moreactually go back and delete them at later dates to not jeopardize anyone's livelihood or reputation, but this one will, hopefully, be immortalized. The first thing you need to know is that this establishment does not have a standardized list of services or prices anywhere online or in their shop. I first went to them on June 22 to have five dresses dry cleaned (quoted $79.45), one blazer dry cleaned and shortened (quoted $52.95), and one dress' zipper repaired as well as have it dry cleaned (quoted $52.99 or $29.99 depending on if the existing zipper was salvageable or needed to be replaced). The prices seemed a bit steep to me, so I told the woman at the desk, Eden, that I would shop around for a cleaner and maybe return. I decided that paying for convenience was worth it and returned on July 8 due to Barr's close proximity to my workplace. This time, I dropped off two dresses for dry cleaning/stain removal (paid $29.98), one dress to just have the zipper repaired (paid $28), and two blazers to just have shortened (paid $50 each). When I got to work, I realized that I was paying almost the exact same amount to simply have a blazer altered that I was quoted for an alteration AND dry cleaning a couple of weeks ago. I called to inquire about this and was given the runaround. A man who I suppose is the manager initially said that he did not know why the pricing was what it was then told me that it was perhaps due to some promotion going on. I asked how much the promotion was to result in the pricing nearly being equivalent, and he said 10% which still doesn't make sense. I told him so, then, presumably due to being tired of speaking with me, he told me that I could come pick up my items and receive a refund which worked perfectly fine with me. While picking up my items, Eden told me that the refund had to be processed through an accountant and that the man I spoke to before was not in at the moment to discuss things further. After getting in contact with him, he told me that the refund had been initiated and to text them my email address to receive proof of this via email. As of the afternoon of July 9, I have still not received an actual refund, confirmation of a refund, or any specific timeline for the processing of my refund. I called Barr this morning after they ignored my texts and got an AI assistant for the first time since trying to resolve this matter, so it seems I'll just be disputing these charges with my bank. These business practices are egregious, and I can only imagine how many others have been charged on a whim but did not realize and thus could not rectify matters. I cannot recommend Barr Cleaners any less. UPDATE (July 10, 2026): Barr Cleaners said they issued a refund this morning and requested my email to send me a refund receipt. I will update this review a final time when I receive the receipt. UPDATE (July 10, 2026): I received confirmation of a refund via email this afternoon. I'm glad to have this matter finally resolved, but my original rating still stands.

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Stephen the Tailor - sewingalterations - Updated November 2026

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