ATELIER - Anastasia's Custom Tailoring — Local services in Mequon

I've waited 3 months to write this review to see if I changed my mind, as I rely on reviews for things like this, and I do not want to write a bad review out of emotion. I did not have a good experience with Anastasia when I had my bridal gown altered by her. My very first visit I walked out thinking she was cold and rude, and I was hesitant to leave my dress with her, due to not only her pompous attitude but I was also not happy I had to pay her a 50% deposit when I was leaving my dress with her. She neglected to tell me that not only would I owe a 50% deposit, she does not accept credit cards and I did not have a check book or cash with me. I felt uneasy leaving my dress with her - this is not how one should feel when they are having their wedding gown altered. Maybe the deposit is typical for the industry, I am not sure. The second time I went back the dress hardly fit me, it looked awful. She took it in too much and brought the shoulder straps up too much that nothing laid right. Then she had the nerve to tell me I must have gained weight. I told her I actually lost weight. She said I must have gained muscle then. I told her muscle is smaller than fat. She took some stitching out while I was there, so it looked a little better, but I also felt the length was cut too short and of course there was nothing we could do there. Third trip - still fit goofy, she made some more adjustments. Then wanted to tell me for first time how beautiful my dress was (since I was being short with her - just as she had been my first two visits) Fourth trip - was a final fitting and it was to be cleaned and pressed, as I bought my dress off the rack at a bridal shop. There was some puckering on the left hip by the zipper, she told me there was nothing she could do about it, that it was a poor design. Also, I felt the dress was wrinkly (it was a chiffon material) She responded by saying it doesn't matter if it's wrinkly because I'll be traveling with it (destination wedding) and I'd have to have it pressed at our destination. I feel she gave a weak effort steaming it thinking I'd have it done at my resort. My resort didn't offer that, I'd have had to send it out to a laundering service - umm, no thank you. Plus I felt this dress should travel just fine considering it was a fitted chiffon dress with no layers. When I finally took the dress home and showed a couple people, the common consensus was that my alterer did a crappy job. I ended up taking my dress to my Aunt who's decent at sewing, although it's not what she does for a living. She definitely smoothed out the pucking on the side seam for me, after a lot of stress and sweat worrying that she'd ruin my wedding gown. All in all - I am not impressed with Anastasia and I just cannot believe she has such great reviews on line. I hope I can save someone else from experiencing the same...

Anastasia made alterations to my wedding gown several months ago. Looking back, I would have done things differently.

I was in the area traveling for work for a number of months leading up to my wedding. Based on the recommendation of the bridal shop where I purchased my gown, wonderful online reviews, and good initial visit with Anastasia, I decided to have my alterations done at her salon rather than having them done in my home state only a short time before my wedding. The first fitting went well. I explained that I was traveling for work and that the gown would need to be done within a 2 month window by a certain date. I took my dress home after the second fitting and thought things were fitting pretty well, not perfect-- but I thought the fit was reasonable considering we had two go down a few sizes. I took the dress home and realized things were not quite as good as I had thought in the salon. Not wanting to be a bother with other people coming in for appts after mine, I hadn’t taken the time like I should have to inspect everything. I also should have taken a friend with me…I know everyone recommends it. I thought I could skip that step because things were tricky with my work schedule and Anastasia seemed to be very thorough.

Once I took it home and danced and moved and inspected my dress, the imperfections started to add up. The biggest problem was that I could fit my fist in a large gap at the small of my back. I called Anastasia and she suggested using double sided tape to fix the gap in my back. I told her I tried several things but it would have to be altered again. I was willing to pay extra as I knew the fix would likely require a good amount of work—we decided on adding darts.

During all of these alterations we were running out of time and soon I would be leaving the state for work. I had to extend my stay by a day to wait for the dress to be done and her shop to open. Unfortunately, she was late that morning—but she did call to let me know that. The fit was better and I thought it would work.

But again, on further inspection other things started to add up. There were some jewels that were quite loose and a few that fell off. The darts were uneven. There was some odd puckering where the ruffled skirt had been sewn to the rest of the dress. The tulle on the back of my dress was off on either side by 1/4 of an inch.

I ended up taking my dress to a tailor in my home town for finishing touches and my dress was wonderful on my wedding day. If you go to Anastasia, I can tell that she can do excellent work and there are certainly other happy customers to back that up. I had a different experience—so I would recommend taking a friend with you and also don’t be afraid to move around in your dress at the salon and be critical while there. Taking your dress home and finding little problems that add up can be a huge pain...

Anastasia did an absolutely incredible job with my wedding dress!! I had a near-disaster with it before I brought it to her, and she fixed it beautifully!

I bought my dress from a small mom-and-pop kind of bridal store. Beautiful dresses, nice people, in-house tailor - everything seemed to be fine. I decided to go through them for tailoring at first, and I quickly realized that they didn't know how to handle a delicate and complex gown like mine. After leaving my dress with them for my first fitting, they altered my dress incorrectly - The arm holes were too small, so it hurt to let my arms hang naturally. The seams on the sides of the bodice did not naturally taper to the wast, so there was a noticeable bulge on each side. The lace all down the sides was chewed up, ripped, and had portions of it missing!

This was 4 weeks before my wedding, and the bottom hem still had not been done. I frantically began looking elsewhere for someone who could fix this disaster in time and found Anastasia though one of my bridesmaids who had been to her before, and I cannot be more thankful!! Anastasia kindly, skillfully and quickly took new measurements on my dress. She assured me that everything was going to be beautiful in the end... and it was! I felt so confident leaving my dress with her after my first fitting.

Anastasia finished my dress a week before the wedding, and it fit perfectly! She widened the arm holes without loosing the look of the cap sleeves. She reconstructed the lase down the sides, matching some of her own lace to the pattern on my dress to fill in the holes - you never would have known that the lace was torn. She also pulled the sides in more to conform to my body shape correctly and get rid of the bulge at the waist, and completed the hem!! She created a French bustle for the train that worked with the design of the skirt, so as not to loose the soft waterfall lace flowing down the back of the dress.

I would highly recommend Anastasia, and I would go back to her with any tailoring needs. I cannot thank her enough for all the work she did on my wedding dress in such a short...