Silva’s Alterations

I needed to have a suit taken in with a quick turn time due to an unexpected death in the family. Silva’s was very accommodating and did a great job, at a very good price. I would certainly recommend them and will be back to have some dress shirts tailored. Thanks guys for helping me out!

I picked this place because of location/​convenience and thoroughly regret it. They didn’t finish the job and I had to have a friend sew my dress together hours before the wedding.
I needed my bridesmaid dress altered for a wedding. I wanted the strapless dress taken in at the waist to hold it up, but they insisted taking it in at the top would be better and cheaper. At no point did I suggest money was a problem, I wanted the strapless to look good. Silva took the dress in at the bust and hemmed it at the bottom. The bust was too tight after the alteration, even without a bra. They insisted it looked fine, even though the dress barely covered me because I couldn’t pull it all the way up. The dress never really needed to be taken in at the top.
I tried it with a corset underneath, to give the dress more at the waist to hug. It helped, but silva had to pull the dress very tightly at the top clasp above the zipper, to keep it on at the height I wanted (up over my bust). It was too late to take it to someone else. I asked her to let it out at the bust, but she insisted this would be fine. I asked her to just reinforce the stitching at the top clasp, at the top of the zipper, to make sure it didn’t fall off or fall loose the day of the wedding. She said she would.
When I came back to get the dress the last time, I wanted to try it on. I thought that was standard practice. Since they hadn’t done much to it since the last fitting when I asked for the top clasp to be reinforced, the guy owner insisted I didn’t need to try it on in store. He said «It will be perfect, trust me.» He said this with a sneer, implying it was rude of me to request another fitting. If you see this guy or talk to him, you will know what I mean.
My husband and I were very busy in the week leading up to the wedding as we were going out of town, etc. I didn’t have time to ask my husband to help me into the getup, since it requires assistance to put on. The owner said «it will be perfect, trust me.» And in the final days leading up to the flight out of town, I found myself going against my instinct and out of pure exhaustion choosing to go ahead and trust him.
Day of the wedding, the left half of the clasp had been cleanly removed. I still had the right side but it had nothing to clasp to. It was virtually non existent. I had to have a friend sew me into the dress at the top, hours before the wedding, which wasn’t easy since it was very tight here to begin with. I was just lucky that we had a sewing kit on site.
After we came home, I called to tell them about the clasp. Since all was said and done, I wasn’t so much mad as I wanted to wrap up this final errand. I wanted to get the clasp put on, the dress dry cleaned and hung up in my closet for that future black tie event. I wanted to be done with it. When I told the guy owner about the clasp, he said «Maybe it fell off when you were putting on the dress.»
Implying it was my fault. This is when I got mad. The clasp was non existent, she had cleanly removed it, I have a photo. The point is, silva was supposed to reinforce the stitching on the clasp to avoid it coming off. An apology would be nice, but he avoided all responsibility like it was the plague.
I have a job of my own, clients and employers to answer to. I check and recheck my work. I paid $ 130 for this alteration, on top of the cost of the dress. Just this once, it would have been nice to be treated like a customer, but I guess that’s asking too much. I should have just driven out of town to a good seamstress.
If you are like me and are too busy and too exhausted to deal with incompetence mixed with bad customer service, avoid this place. The location is nice if you live or work in reading, but trust me, it’s not worth it.

My go-​to place for alterations. He is honest and fair and you are aware of how much everything is/​will be. When we had an emergency rush item we dropped of in the am, it was done (perfectly) before the afternoon even started. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Fantastic tailor — quick, does great work and very reasonable prices. If you are regular and just need something done quickly (like a button), he’ll do it while you wait, for free. He also does cub scout/​girl patches (for hopeless sewers like me).

I dropped a suit jacket off at Silva’s Alterations, formerly Roula’s, because the sleeves were too long for my tastes. 6 days and $ 30 later, my jacket sleeves were shortened to the exact length I wanted. The shop owner was very friendly and accommodating. I think I found a new tailor! Thank you!