Svetlana Custom Clothing & Couture — Local services in Yarmouth

A warning to all potential customers: I had a horrible experience meeting with Svetlana. It was the worst client service interaction I’ve dealt with. Firstly, phone conversations with her are 2 minutes max, with minimal information, as though you are bothering her by calling in the first place. I met with Svetlana twice, first for a consultation on crafting a wedding dress (which she advertises on her website). My timeline was short, and it was more just an inquiry to see if it was possible. Svetlana immediately dismissed me and insisted on scheduling another time for me to come back with a dress I’d purchased. I met with her again a month later, I tried on the dress I bought and she was extremely negative and rude to the suggestions I made. I am eloping, with no family in the area, I was completely alone during my interactions with her. I did not bring shoes to the alteration, I didn’t think about it and she never told me what to bring in the phone calls. She was very upset with me, throwing her arms in the air multiple times, mumbling about how ridiculous it was that I didn’t bring shoes. The entire fitting made me feel like a fool. After I changed out of the dress she gave me my bill. Over $800. I was shocked. She very snidely told me that she “had to take apart the entire top of the dress and I charge $80 an hour and if you don’t want to work with me then find someone else.” I stood there shocked and horrified to spend more on alteration than I did on the actual dress, she never mentioned to me in the fitting that it would take over 10 hours of work. I walked out of the store crying. She was cold and rude, and her words were sharp. It was hard enough doing wedding planning alone and both my interactions with her made it so much worse.

The happy ending of this story is I found another tailor. Mattie at Seams Right in Jefferson was FANTASTIC. Mattie charges $40 an hour, was extremely kind, worked quickly and efficiently, AND best of all she found a way to take the dress in at the sides so she did not have to disassemble the front piece. Saving herself time and me money.

Svetlana quoted me $850 and had the worst customer service imaginable. Mattie charged me $100 and gave me the wedding dress of my dreams.

I would NEVER recommend working with Svetlana. I had a horrible experience and I hope I can prevent another bride from...

A few weeks ago, I brought in a pile of dresses and one skirt that needed to be taken in, let out, reworked, repaired, or taken up in the shoulders. I have not been able to find a good tailor since I moved away from the Bangor area and had actually had terrible experiences with two tailors in the Augusta area, so I was nervous about going to yet another one who might let me down, but Svetlana had such great reviews, and I had so many things piling up that I thought it was time to finally take a chance again. And I am so glad I did. She is wonderful. Not only is she extremely skilled, but she is also adventurous and unafraid of a challenge, and at the same time, very professional. I am happy with every single thing she altered for me, so much so that I'm bringing her another pile to fix next weekend, and plan to commission some dresses from her as well. Svetlana is not the cheapest tailor in all of Maine, but honestly, you get what you pay for when it comes to these things. I would rather have someone who knows what she is doing and who I can trust to bother showing up at appointments and finishing a job when she says she will than someone who doesn't charge much but makes you feel like you're taking a huge risk and don't know what you're going to get in the end. I'd rather pay a little more for quality and reliability anyday....

I brought her a pair of jeans that needed to be hemmed, she was super nice and we agreed what should be worked on. I paid her $50 for a simple pair of jeans, but I thought jeans are difficult work so it’s ok. When u picked up I noticed she decided to do a single stitch instead of a normal denim stitch but she told me it was good. After 2 washes, the jeans split at the hem. I brought them back to her and she said “I didn’t do this, it’s not my work” which is actually nuts because I’m like - I stood in this room with these jeans with you not long ago. She acted like she didn’t know me. I got 3 dresses and these jeans. All very expensive which is fine if it’s good work but this is insane. I venmo’d her for the work so I can’t even dispute with my credit...