Sylvia Tailor Shop — Local services in Elk Grove Township

I came to Sylvia’s tailor to get my wedding dress altered due to it being big on me. When I first took my dress, everything seemed perfectly fine and everyone at the location was extremely nice. The second time I went there, I still needed to get some more alterations done since it was considered my first fitting. There was a blonde lady that would keep coming by the area I was in and she seemed pretty annoyed that I still needed additional alterations especially because I noticed my dress was too short from the bottom. Anyways fast forward I didn’t let it bother me I assumed maybe she just had too much going on. When I went for my final fitting I noticed a lot of flaws and the job just looked sloppy around the beading. I explained to the girls that I noticed these things and they assured me that it would all be fixed before they steamed my dress. I pick up my dress, veil, and skirt after it had been steamed and once I went home, I opened up the dress since that’s the only item they actually altered. Once again I noticed the flaws. I had to take my dress back to get fixed and mind you this was the week of my wedding. As a bride, you could only imagine the amount of things I had to work on the week of my wedding. Now, the night before my wedding, I opened up my veil, skirt, and dress and started to get it ready for the morning. Immediately I noticed that my veil looked like it had been cut on the side and none of my items even looked steamed. You can literally see how crooked the cutting looked. Everything was wrinkled and I was literally going through so much anxiety and stress because at this point it was midnight. I had to find someone who would fix my items the night before my wedding and thankfully I found someone and literally was only able to sleep for 2 hours on my wedding night. Now I call Sylvia’s bridal a couple days after my wedding to explain what happened and after their “investigation” they tried to tell me that my veil was like that when I originally brought it. Obviously I know this isn’t true and I even asked if you guys noticed that, why wouldn’t you make sure it was fixed and perfect? I got no response regarding that. I asked to watch the camera footage and they ignored that. I checked all my items prior to me coming here and I know for a fact my veil was perfect. All they wanted to do for me was give me a $75 credit for the steaming. I paid almost $1000 for an experience that by far was the worst experience of my life. Long story short, brides do...

This review is difficult to write because Sylvia is very nice... However, the quality of the service and the communication from the store is enough to prompt a two-star review. Here's how:

With my wedding five weeks out and my first wedding dress a disaster, I bought another one. This new dress needed basic wedding dress alterations (taken in at the side, length taken up and a bustle put on) and some beading removed. I made an appointment to come in and two women (neither one Sylvia) worked quickly and efficiently pinning the dress. They could not give me a price for the alterations and told me Sylvia would call herself the next day.

Sylvia called five days later with a total price of $385. She wanted me to specifically come in at 2pm the following Tuesday to see the work they had completed. I agreed and made a note of the appointment.

Being a wedding gown fitting, my mom came with me to see the progress the following Tuesday. When we arrived, they had no record of the appointment and had not starting working on the dress. If my mom hadn't driven an hour to come with me, this wouldn't have been so terrible, but they didn't apologize and told me to come back the next week after challenging me on why I wanted to remove the beading ("Buuuuuttttt, it looks SOOOOO prettttyyyy").

Now a week out from leaving for my wedding, I came in for the "final" appointment, which was really my first appointment seeing their work. The dress was fine, but tighter than was pinned (and I had not gained any weight). Sylvia was working that day and was very warm. She gave me a "free" garter and added $35 to the bill for the beading removal work that wasn't considered. I paid it and left, relieved to have a dress at all.

The dress survived the ceremony. The reception was a different story. What they had decided to do was create a French bustle that included to very thin loops to hold a entire layer of fabric. Seven minutes into dancing, both loops ripped. I ended up actually tying the ripped fabric to another part of the dress after trying to hold it for a little while. It was embarrassing and distracting.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend Sylvia's for tailoring anything, let alone a very important garment. I wish it would have worked out and I could have written a glowing recommendation, but I wouldn't want someone to overpay for bad...

I had a bittersweet experience at Sylvia’s. I’ll start by complimenting their work because I had a thick, heavy material for my wedding dress and they did a beautiful job taking it in over an inch on each side. They also mistaking put 7 bustles into it after I called and asked that they only do 1 instead, but they fixed that within minutes. I do wish, however, that they had lent more of their experience to me, a first time bride, and advised me better about the top of my dress. I have a larger chest and my dress was strapless, it did have a good amount of structure in the waist but I pointed out a gap at the top at my final fitting 3 weeks before the wedding. They told me to scoop my chest up to fill that gap, which I did and it looked better for the moment. I didn’t know, though, that it wouldn’t last and I ended up having to pick up my dress my entire wedding day. Not only was that irritating, but in pictures the dress was not done justice as it was sagging at the top and the boning had bent under the weight of my chest (when I tried on a smaller size at the bridal boutique, it was tighter, more supportive and still comfortable). I wish they had taken more time to address my concern and taken in the top more, or added boning, rather than giving me a quick fix that didn’t last. I think since my wedding was in early June and peak busy season, they wanted me out and done as quickly as possible. So brides, a few tips: advocate for your concerns and have your final fitting the week leading up to your wedding, not 3 weeks beforehand when you could still potentially lose weight. I wish I had gotten better guidance from the experts and been advised to do a last fitting closer to my wedding day. They did do a great job on my reception dress, as well as my bridesmaids dresses and husbands pants as well. So I know they’re talented and very skilled, I just wish that had been reflected in my dress! *1st picture is from the bridal boutique, 2nd is from the 2nd fitting where you can see the gap at the top, rest are from the...