Alter 8

I found this service to be quite expensive– my alteration was reasonabley complex, adding a lace-​up back to a strapless wedding dress, but I took in all the required fabric myself and it still cost £40 for the work.
I found the lady behind the counter to be quite dismissive whilst I was trying to explain what adjustments I wanted to be made to it. So I wasn’t shocked to find that when I collected the dress they hadn’t carried out the alterations as I’d asked. They’d neglcted to finish off the edging on a ribbon fastening and hadn’t included an extra feaure (modesty panel in a lace-​up backed dress) that I’d asked for. Yet when I mentioned this they said the original quote didn’t cover that work and so didn’t refund me any money.
i left feeling very frustrated, with a dress that still fitted poorly and a job that had been left unfinished. I now feel slightly better having shared my experience and hope that you’ll find somwhere that does a better job.

I’ve just collected a dress from Alter 8. The lady there was extremely reassuring, promising me that my request could be done easily and quickly as I am going on holiday in a couple of days. After a fitting I was confident to leave this expensive garment there.
Unfortunately I have paid through the nose for a very poor job, but it’s too late to quibble as I need it for my holiday. They charged an original £18 for the tailoring and another £9.50 for re adjusting the zip (even though they have used the original zip, so not actually had to replace it). So that’s a whopping £27.50 for something my mother could have done with her eyes closed.
The sewing is shoddy and is actually missing at the front where the machine has obviously failed to catch, the top of the zip is coming undone already (I collected it yesterday) and they have replaced a smart band at the top with a very cheap looking sewed in elastic strip. They’ve reduced a gorgeous maxi to something that looks like it was bought in Leeds market.
I’m very disappointed and their lack of skill at proper tailoring is apparent in every detail of my ‘alterations’. Basically, they’ve butchered it. Perhaps they can be trusted with more minor alterations eg. shortening a hem, but for anything else I really would not recommend taking it here. And re the cost, I can only imagine Alter 8 find it appropriate to charge sky high prices as they are situated behind H of F and are city centre based.
One star is a too higher rating.

City centre tailoring and garment adjustment is something you never think about until you desperately need it.
Scenario is, you’re tall, you’ve got a perfectly good suit, but it’s at your parents house 60 miles away, it’s hanging up in the wardrobe because you wore it for some sombre occasion. You need a new suit for a special occasion, but as I mentioned you’re tall, you’re too tall for the store’s long length but not tall enough for the specialist tall sections. Your arms are long but you’re not a gibbon, you’ve just paid a fortune for your suit, so you don’t want to ruin it with hacking or ill measured Wonder Web. You’ve bought the suit and now it needs turning up properly and tidily.
Run into Alter8 at 10am and blurt out your situation concisely. Be greeted with small reassurances and be told what will be done to your garments, and when to pick them up. Depending on what you want depends on duration. Beg and you can pick it up the same day if there isn’t too much on their books, if they’re swamped then a day to a couple of days wait.
The results are excellent, and appropriately priced for the quality, I’ve known cheaper tailors, but cheaper doesn’t always mean better. Plus the city centre location means that you can buy the must have sales item that’s a size too big or too long and be rest assured it will fit you with a little trimming.

I have learned pattern cutting for many years but sometimes there are garments that i just cannot be bothered to tackle or that are of a delicate fabric that I’m too nervous to mess about with. This is where Alter 8 comes in.
A fast and efficient service with good prices. It’s easy to overlook something like taking up a hem until you have to sit there and do it yourself and realise the work and accuracy it takes to get it just right.
It’s worth paying for to get it right, plus it saves you the hassle.

Situated behind House of Fraser, a shop that provides warm little walk through from Briggate to nicer, smaller shops, is another alterations provider. Looking like a laudrette this place administers a task which I am completely incapable of undertaking, the task of sewing. I can barely thread a needle let alone darn anything or take something in/​up.
Although these service seem to be costly for what they are doing, twelve quid for taking in a few centimetres of fabric, it is a damn sight more than I can do and I’m not on any steep learning curve, for this sort of art anyway. Useless to some, unfathomably useful to others.

Every so often there is a must have purchase that finds its way to you. And every so often that must have item needs a bit of adjustment. The skirt is to die for, but it is 2 inches too long, and so on. In comes Alter8. I used to work in retail, and our first recommendation to all of our customers was to go to Alter8 for their adjustments. Since many high end brands tend to oversize their garments — literally there are some that obviously think women are generally six feet tall — this was an often occurring suggestion.
For simple things, such as taking up trousers or taking in a dress they are fast, efficient and very reasonably priced. For the most part I like to try and make these adjustments myself, but it’s never quite the same as a professional job. If sewing is lost on you then places like Alter8 are a life saver. They also cater to larger adjustments — taking in items a dress size for example.
All in all, this is a reliable service that is easy to find in the city centre — literally behind House of Fraser — and for the ease of having someone else adjust your items for a small fee, I’d go with them every time.