Van Lear Custom Couture — Local services in Miamisburg

I hate to leave a negative review but I feel like I need to share the experience I had at Van Lear. Laura is a friendly woman and easy to connect with. She has a very strong personality which can be intimidating, especially for us soft spoken types. She was very persistent with the fabric she thought would look best although it wasn’t what I wanted and didn’t meet my list of needs for care. The dress fittings were fine- she was very flexible around my schedule. After one of my fittings, we decided to alter the sleeves so that I could actually move my arms but she didn’t write it down so upon my return for the next fitting, the sleeves had not been altered and she argued that I never told her about the changes. Frustrating, but mistakes happen. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is when she flat out told me “I only do things once”. So, I took that as a deterrent to speaking up if I saw a flaw. Adding to that, she never once asked me if there was anything I wanted changed or if I was even happy with the dress. The final product brought tears to my eyes; I just wish they were happy tears. They were tears cried when I brought the dress home and realized how utterly bad the dress looked on me. It didn’t look like the sketch and it didn’t do my figure any justice. It had loose fabric hanging on the side of the bust that made my torso look the opposite of what it is, short and frumpy. The thick thread used to sew the delicate fabric wasn’t the proper type of thread, it was more like rope. It pulled at the fabric and left visible holes in the front! I took the dress to a different seamstress who was shocked by the carelessness of the work and described it as disgusting (not my words). I felt like the dress was just rushed through and not given the time or care that it deserved. It cost me an extra $200 to have the dress altered by someone else… Thankfully, the holes were mended, the dress was fixed and ended up looking beautiful. Hopefully, the next person has a better experience than I did but I will...

This might be a long post-but worth reading if you're considering going with Van Lear. I had a rather rare scenario with my wedding dress. I had a change of heart with my dress a month before my wedding date. Luckily I found a new one off the rack that I absolutely loved, but it was about 3 sizes too big. I called Van Lear and they said no problem they could have it altered and ready for my wedding day. She pinned it to fit exactly right and also did a very unique bustle where the dress tied up underneath to make it look like a floor length dress once tied up, which I loved. Fast forward to when I picked my dress back up- we had a couple issues with the placement of my straps. We thought we had a solution figured out, until TWO DAYS before my wedding I (thankfully) tried my dress on with my jewelry to find the straps were too loose and caused my dress to be very loose on my chest. I freaked out for one second and immediately called Van Lear. Without any hesitation they said I could come up right then and they would fix it for me. As I sat there (after hours mind you) she resewed my straps to cross in the back which gave me just the support I needed. I teared up as I was leaving because I was so relieved and she gave me a huge hug. I am so so thankful for her and her assistant. They will truly do anything to make you feel beautiful on your wedding day! Cannot thank...

I am so glad I was referred to Lora and had the opportunity to work with her on my wedding dress! My dress was originally strapless, and I knew I wanted a sleeve to give my dress a classy, chic look. Lora understood my vision and beautifully executed the sleeves using the excess fabric taken off when my dress was hemmed.

Not only did Lora understand and execute my vision perfectly, but she also noticed some issues with the boning and meticulously fixed/removed/added as she saw fit so that the neckline layed correctly and supported my larger chest.

Lora took the time, went above and beyond, was thoughtful and extremely knowledgeable, and I couldn’t be more happy with the results. My dress was perfection on me. Thank you so, so...