Alterations Question

alhaley88 · February 2015

Ladies, the store I bought my dress from only has 2 alterations packages, one that is 600 and one that is 800. I think this is outrageous to take in a few seams and shorten the dress if needed, and hopefully add some buttons over the zipper. My question is, did you stick with the store you bought your dress from for alterations, or do you think a highly rated seamstress who specializes in wedding dresses (there's one down the street from my house, yay!) would be a good alternative. My fear is that I go through someone else and my dress will get ruined.

Maggie0829 · February 2015

I went with the alterations specialist that the salon primarily uses. But I was only charged for the things that needed to be done, not a lump sum.

If you are unhappy with the prices then ask friends/family for recommendations or your local board. Then take your dress to that person to see what they have to say and to see what their price range would be.

Personally, unless you have enough alterantions needed to equal $600 worth of work I would not be happy paying $600 for only, say, $300 of work.

alhaley88 · February 2015

Thanks. I have a while to decide. Even after the dress comes in I'll have months to decide about alterations. The seamstress down the street from me is also a bridal consolidation(I think that's the right word) so she works mostly with bridal gowns. I will definitely take my dress to her and see what she says.

Dignity100 · February 2015

I did NOT use my store's alteration department. I found out after the fact they were going to charge for bringing in the bust seems, hem and bustle when all I needed was a hem and bustle and for the corset top to be properly tied.

I used my local boards to narrow down my search and had to rely a little on my gut as there weren't many reviews for alterations. The store was in the $250+ range for alteration charges and the outside seamstress charged me $165 for my ballgown.

plainjane0415 · February 2015

I don't understand how they can charge a flat fee for alterations when every dress ad body is different. That's absurd.

Maggie0829 · February 2015

plainjane0415 said:

I don't understand how they can charge a flat fee for alterations when every dress ad body is different. That's absurd.

Pretty sure Kleindfelds has a flat fee of about $600-700.

My friend bought her dress at a salon and if you used their alterations department you pay no more then $500. So if you only need a hem and bustle then you pay, say $100 for that, but if you need a lot of work done the max you would pay is $500 even if the work exceeds that amount. I am not sure of how great of a practice this is, unless the salon knows that on average people won't be needing $500+ in alterations.

hyechica81 · February 2015

my alterations were around 350 hem the dress, take in the bust they had to take it in 3 times add the lace straps to the dress and the bustle, i had a one point bustle but really i should have gotten a 3 point bustle

alhaley88 · February 2015

The dress they ordered in my size fit perfectly except for the bust and the thigh area were too big. The length would be okay if I wear heels. And I would want a bustle and buttons added but I don't see how that could cost 600 dollars. But I'm not an expert.

darlingnikki1237 · February 2015

Hi! Former wedding gown seamstress here.

The shop that I worked in charged a dollar per minute. This means that a sheath dress hem would cost roughly $50.00 while a ball gown could go up to $150.00 This dollar amount was based on how long the work should take the seamstress. I know this is not the case everywhere, but a lump sum? Go somewhere else.

Do keep in mind, however, that there is no way to sew on buttons with a machine. Hand sewing is typically more expensive because of the time it takes.

@hyechica81, whoever agreed to do a one point bustle for you, shame on them! Even the lightest sheath dress should have a minimum of three points.

Hope this helps!

princessleia22 · February 2015

I took mine to a different seamstress. My dress just needed hem & bustle and it cost me around $200. And my dress had a 9-point invisible bustle, which was even more complicated since my fabric kind of twisted around the dress instead of having a straight fall. And she did an amazing job on it. Costs will vary depending on complexity of the dress and fabric (lace & beading are harder to work with so cost more). But, I would certainly check with other seamstresses to see what they would charge.

[Deleted User] · February 2015

Maggie0829 said:
plainjane0415 said:
I don't understand how they can charge a flat fee for alterations when every dress ad body is different. That's absurd.

Pretty sure Kleindfelds has a flat fee of about $600-700.

My friend bought her dress at a salon and if you used their alterations department you pay no more then $500. So if you only need a hem and bustle then you pay, say $100 for that, but if you need a lot of work done the max you would pay is $500 even if the work exceeds that amount. I am not sure of how great of a practice this is, unless the salon knows that on average people won't be needing $500+ in alterations.

--Boxes-

My dress shop does the same and they said my alterations should cost of no more than $400 for basics (taking up the length, taking in/take out the dress, fitting the bust, etc). They said anything that was outside of the basic alternation would cost more money. These would be things like adding or taking off the train, etc. The final cost of the alternations would be estimated at the time of the first trial. They did not charge me ahead of time.

I think you should look into finding someone else that's bit more reasonably priced.

flyingfoxes · March 2015

I'd go find an outside seamstress. I had the whole top of my corset dress brought in, the bustline fixed (so it would fit snug and lay right after bringing in the top sides), bra cups, and a bustle all added for $90 total.

JennyColada · March 2015

I bought my dress online, so I did the alterations at the store that I liked the best and felt that they had the best customer service (since I felt the most happy giving them my money).

I suppose that I could have found somewhere less expensive, but it didn't really bother me much, and I was pretty happy with the end result.

mrscomposer · March 2015

Outside seamstress! Mine shortened mine to just floor length, bustled it (10 points) and added some tulle to the top of the bodice so I didn't have so much cleavage. I paid her more than she asked for and it was still only $200.

haleyk620 · March 2015

I am not getting my dress altered at the store because I've heard horror stories from friends who also purchased their dress at this salon and had EXTREMELY pricey alterations. I am going with an outside seamstress that has been highly recommended to me by several people. I'm going in for my first fitting this weekend!

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