My experience with Magic Needle for bridal alterations was negative overall. If you choose Magic Needle, I recommend getting a firm delivery date in writing during drop-off, as well as an itemized receipt at pickup. Bring along an objective third party to the pickup to help scrutinize the garment, on and off, for as long as needed, before taking possession of it. In summary, the dress was several inches too long, the lace on the dress and the veil was sewn on bunched, folded, and crooked, the lace was not placed on the dress as we had discussed at the fitting, the comb was sewn into the veil in the wrong place, and the dress was full of dog hairs. The positive in this experience was a one-button bustle that was easy to use and a well-placed piece of decorative lace sewn onto the bust. Details follow below.
I brought my wedding dress in for alterations (6 weeks before the event) and had a veil made (I dropped off the materials 2 weeks before the event). I asked for the dress to be hemmed, the bodice taken in, and the veil constructed. It was agreed that the veil would not affect the timing on the completion of the alterations. At 2 weeks before the event, alterations on the dress had not yet been started. The dress was scheduled to be finished in the week prior to the wedding, but it was not finished until the week of the wedding, 4 days before. I paid $760 for the dress and veil alterations.
When I went to pick up the dress, I knew something was wrong but I couldn't articulate all the points. It was only after a detailed review at home that I was able to figure out the issues. I did not contact her prior to the event to fix the issues I had found because I was not certain that the fixes would have been completed satisfactorily in the two nights between pickup and leaving for the wedding, based on the issues with workmanship.
When I brought the dress home, I found the skirt was full of dog hairs (when I brought this up later, she said it didn't matter because I had accepted the dress). I made her aware right away at my first fitting that I was very allergic and I couldn't be anywhere near the dog. She vacuumed the room but then let the dog walk around in it afterwards. The dog also followed me into the changing room and later stepped on my dress and left a mark (he had just been walking outside and had wet paws). The mark was identified and she did clean the spot.
The dress was hemmed several inches too long so that it dragged on the ground and I spent the wedding and the reception stepping on it.
Where the lace was sewn onto the bottom of the dress, the tulle was bunched under the lace on the whole right side of the dress. I had to take the lace off of the front and side sections of the dress and resew it, and I found that there were 8 extra inches of the tulle skirt bunched under the lace. The points of the lace were also sewn on crooked. When I mentioned these at my final fitting, she said the tulle would steam flat (it did not) and that the point had to be sewn on crooked so that it didn't hit another piece of lace (it did not, I removed and straightened it without it touching any other lace). Additionally, the lace was placed differently from what we discussed at the last fitting.
The comb on the veil was sewn on to the top of the veil off center. This would have been simple to fix, except that a long triangle of the material had been cut out to make it more rounded on the head. I had to cut open that stitching and sew in a scrap of material to make it whole again.
She admitted that the veil was done wrong and I received a $100 partial refund on the $280 charged for the veil (this is the cost of the labor only, not the materials).
I spent the last two nights before my wedding fixing the dress and veil. When I informed the owner of the problems with my dress and my veil, she said she needed to see them, so I drove an hour to the shop. When I got there, she said that because I took the dress, it was legally binding and I couldn't do anything about it. read more
