Looking for a seamstress. (Tailor? Is there a gender-neutral word?)

[lonelyholiday.livejournal.com]

I need to have a bridesmaid dress hemmed, and I'd love to hear some recommendations. My two requirements:
1. Must be good with formal dresses. This is a satin dress with an organza panel, so a messy hem will be obvious.
2. Must be reliable on time. I have a month, which I assume will be plenty of time. But it's an out-of-town wedding, so if the ETA is cutting it close, I won't have any "I need an extra day" kind of wiggle room! Can't just pick up morning-of! Etc.


I promise I'm not a difficult customer, I'm just paranoid. :) It was a bit of a fiasco getting this dress in the first place, so if anything goes wrong I don't believe I'll be able to get a replacement.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I haven't had to have a formal dress altered since I moved to the Boston area, so I have NO personal experience and searching for a list of local seamstresses is just daunting and so uncertain.

Edit: Thanks for all the input! I think I'm going to give Jack and Elegant a call today to start, since they're so close, and go from there.

Comments

[mimiambic.livejournal.com]

Jack the tailor, on Mass Ave, right outside Porter Square. He's a little pricey, but he did a great job taking in my strapless silk bridesmaid dress three years ago; he even moved the boning in the lining so that it'd fit me better. I think it was like $60 or $70? And when I was there for my fitting a woman was dropping off a huge armful of Chanel suits she picked up "cheap" somewhere for him to alter.

When my partner bought a high-end suit at Drinkwater's, the proprietor there sent the suit alteration work to Jack too.

Jack's very nice and calls all his customers by name. His hours are kind of limited and often not as posted, so have his phone number handy and call before you stop by. You should definitely ask him if he will be able to have your dress done in time, but he doesn't fudge once he promises to get something done.

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

+1 for talkative Jack. Plan to stay fifteen minutes and build the relationship.

[karenjulip.livejournal.com]

+2.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Possibly the terminology you're looking for is this (http://content.perspicuity.com/images/cartoons/sewer-rat-small.jpg).

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Elegant Tailor on Mass Ave. between Harvard and Porter. I would trust them with anything. They actually took my wedding dress and cut off the bodice to make it into a skirt (I had a two-piece wedding dress with two skirts). They're wonderful.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

+1 on this.

I just had them tailor a beautiful raw silk dress I have, and they did a great job on it. Turn around time was very fast (1 week, and it was done). If you went this week you should have it in plenty of time.

also, cost was not bad, $35 for taking in the sides (two layers)

[ron_newman]

I don't know if you put the tags on or if someone else added them later, but in any case, click on the 'tailor' tag for some previous discussions.

[tamalinn.livejournal.com]

I still take all my dresses to Christo's Dry Cleaning and Tailoring (http://www.yelp.com/biz/christos-drycleaning-and-tailoring-brookline) even since I moved to this side of the river. I've found him quick, oriented to detail, and reasonably priced. He's in Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

A bit further afield, I had a great experience with Christina's Pins & Needles in Danvers. She's a few minutes from 128 and is about half an hour from Somerville by car.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

I just had a good experience with Hemmingway's in Belmont. A little outside Davis, but close to the Cambridge line and right on the 83 bus if you don't have a car.

[ron_newman]

Where is this, more specifically? The 83 bus doesn't go anywhere near Belmont.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Oops sorry. 73 bus

[versonic.livejournal.com]

It's farther away, but I took a bridesmaid dress to Queenie's last year a week before I had to fly to Arizona for a wedding, and she got it done - and she got it done nicely. It wasn't an easy dress to fix with boning in the strapless bodice and like layers of tulle.

Here: Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/queen-dressmakers-cambridge#hrid:gwb7Xfg9FOg1QmqmbxNVzQ/src:self)