Alterations By Violette

I am very pleased with the wrote Violette did on my wedding dress. I bought a used pure silk wedding gown that had a long train, and was really tight around my ribs. I am having a beach wedding, and I didnt want a train. She took off the train, made the extra fabric into a shawl, and took out the rib portion to fit just perfectly! She was professional, quick, and as far as I can tell reasonably priced. She even allowed me to go back to her a few weeks before the wedding to a check up fit and a steaming!
I can highly recommend her and will to anyone I know…
THANK YOU Violette.

There are no words for the service you will receive from Violette. Violette welcomed my mother and I into her home after she was recommended by the bridal shop I bought my gown from (Camillas in Arlington).
My wedding dress was a bit tricky to alter as it had mesh across the chest and lace trim on the bottom. Violette shortened and took the dress in with no problems.
I highly recommend Violette for lace gowns!
Also, We figured out it was Violette who altered my sisters gown 5 years prior so we knew it was a match made in heaven. Such a small world! We were so happy to reconnect with Violette.

Violette is the sweetest woman! Before finding her, I called multiple other places that said it was too close to my wedding for them to work on my dress. Violette was the only one after 10 other phone calls who would take me in. It was about a month before my wedding and she was diligent and made me feel like I was her priority eventhough she had SO MANY other dresses to get done in a similar time frame. She was professional and very calm and never made me feel bad for suggesting other things or for wanting to do another fitting, eventhough I was the one who brought my dress in so late! Could not receommend Violette more, she is such a nice lady!

Violette works with Camilla’s Bridal, where I bought my dress. I didn’t have a lot of alterations to do for my wedding dress (shorten straps and simple bustle). Violette still took care to make sure they were done right, and in this end I was so comfortable on my wedding day. It was nice that she offered for me to pick up my dress at her house, since I wasn’t able to make it during the regular hours that she comes to Camilla’s. Thank you!

I cannot recommend Violette enough. She did an amazing job on my wedding dress. She was sooooo patient with me as I was indecisive over so many things. I wanted to add straps to my dress, which turned out to be harder than I thought since my dress was lace and I wasn’t hemming it at all. She went out of her way to make me TWO separate pairs of straps, and they turned out great.
She was also such a pleasure to work with. She is such a sweet lady and making appointments is super easy. She works out of her house so she could always do evening appointments, which is a huge help if you work full time. Also, it was a lump sum for everything she did, which was fantastic. Didn’t have to worry about getting unnecessarily charged for minor things. And incredibly reasonably priced.
Violette is fantastic, and I would recommend her to anyone in the area!

This is a tough one to rate. I called Violette because of the great Unilocal reviews, so I feel obligated to rate myself. I brought an expensive evening dress to be altered (hem and shorten straps). I also knew that I would need my wedding dress altered later in the month and figured the evening dress would be a good way to try her out before giving her such an important dress.
What makes me feel bad about the 2 star rating: Violette is incredibly sweet. She made me a same day appointment and was very warm when I arrived at the house and descended into the basement where she does her consults (don’t expect a pretty alterations shop). She really undercharged me for the work too. Would I want to have tea with her? Yes. Give her another dress of mine to alter? Probably not.
Why this is a 2 star rating: the alterations work was very disappointing. When I went back to pick up the dress the hem was extremely uneven (hung about 4 inches in the front compared to the back). She also had not done the straps (they were still pinned). I pointed both of these things out (she didn’t say anything about it first) and took the dress off. She took the dress and tried to fix the hem and did do the straps while I waited. The changes made it better (no longer a 4 inch length difference front to back, but still a noticeable one) so I paid and took the dress because I was not convinced that leaving it with her longer would result in a better outcome. I ended up having to bring the dress elsewhere for alterations to even out the hem. She undercharged… but I ended up overpaying since I had to pay a second time for another place to make the hem even all the way around.
Giving her the benefit of the doubt (she was SO NICE): her bread and butter is definitely wedding dresses (there were a lot of them hanging in her basement). My evening dress was probably not a priority at the start of wedding season. She also claimed the fabric of my dress was difficult to work (it was a silk chiffon). This may be true for the machine (s) she uses, but the second place I brought it to was not phased by the fabric and made it look like a professional hem.
Use caution here. She has night appointments and is a good communicator but the alterations work apparently is hit or miss. Wedding dresses might be her thing, but I decided not to bring mine here (and I am so glad that I did this ‘alterations trial’ first).

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Violette. My husband and I decided to cancel our big wedding and elope. We had less than two weeks to get everything together– and for me to get a dress. I had low expectations of what I would be wearing, and ordered a few dresses online. The right one arrived two days before our departure– I knew it would be a stretch to even have the hem done in time, but after I spoke with Violette, she understood my dilemma and said no problem. She was warm, cheerful, and excited to help me. Not only did she hem my dress beautifully, she took it in and made a beautiful sash, in less than 24 hours! It was more than I could have hoped for! I know my situation was out of the ordinary, and I would never expect anyone to do as much as she did so quickly. I would highly recommend her, and will be using her again for any future dress alterations! Thank you so much!!!

Violette did an incredible job altering my wedding dress. There were quite a few alterations that needed to be done, and she did them all at a very reasonable price. Because my dress had a very intricate hem, in order to shorten the long skirt, she had to shorten it around the waist, and she did an incredible job! She also had to shorten the top and alter the shoulders, all of which came out perfectly. She was very friendly to work with and let me come over in the evening, sometimes at very short notice. Violette is lovely to work with, and I would recommend her for wedding dress alterations, and any other formal wear. She really knows her stuff!

Wonderful! This is your seamstress!!! She is flexible about scheduling and is able to do evening appointments. She is warm and makes you feel very comfortable. Great price and great work!

I found Violette on google. I contacted her through her website with a prompt response to set up a consultation. I took my dress to her and explained what I needed. The bodice needed to be taken in and a bustle added. The first fitting went well– bustle was a little crooked and the bodice was a snug– gave me a little back fat. She said she would fix it right away. Two weeks later I was back and everything fit perfect. Total was reasonable, compared to what I’ve heard is spent on bridal alterations. I spent $ 350 on a 14 strand bustle and 2 alterations to bodice on a organza rouched gown. She even said she would alter again if anything changed.
I would highly recommend Violette. She was so sweet and kind and her work was very skilled.

My experience with Violette was fantastic. Finding the right seamstress for your wedding dress can be a bit stressful but from the first time I met Violette, I was put at ease and had 100% confidence that my dress would be in great hands.
I dropped it off to her in March and that gave her 5 months to make numerous alterations. We were in contact the entire time, doing fittings at my convenience and making any changes I wanted. My dress was a bit intricate so a lot was needed.
Violette was a pleasure to work with and I would absolutely recommend her for your wedding or tailoring needs.

She was *extremely* patient with me, she did a beautiful job. I have an very complicated wedding dress– silk sheath with a complete separate outer lace sheath that is embroidered, beaded, tiny crystals etc.
I was afraid of the hemming but she did a beautiful job.
When I went to pick up my dress for the last time, she invited me for Turkish coffee (YUM) and little cookies in her parlor since I was picking it up early in the morning. She told me stories of her life, surrounded by other girls’ dresses hanging here and there in various stages of alteration, and I could feel her genuine warmth and passion for what she did in the way she spoke of her life and work.
I really can’t say enough, I gave her a big hug. Also price was VERY reasonable– 4 fittings later, dress fits like a glove and it only cost me 250 dollars. Which by the way was the same as her stated estimate.
Love!

Violette did the alternations for my wedding dress. I was concerned mostly with quality of alternations, since my dress was pretty inexpensive as far as wedding dresses go. However, it needed some major alterations. It had to be brought down at least 2 sizes in the waste and hips, plus I needed halter straps added. (why so many strapless dresses!!!) Violette had great recommendations so I went with her.
When I dropped off the dress to her 4 months a head of time, she did the initial fitting and had measured for the halter straps. The dress had some beautiful details I was worried about (lace appliques along the one side, tulle wrap around and tulle over the dress part.) but when I came back (after only about 1.5 weeks), the dress fit beautifully and there were no obvious places where she made adjustments. I took it home and she said that I should come back a month before the wedding and we can check it again.
The only tweak we ended up having to do after the initial fitting was that she had added halter straps that were white and the dress is off white (I didn’t even notice myself until I had taken the dress outside after someone at Mens Warehouse had mentioned that in passing! Indoors it looks like an exact match!) I brought it back and she remade custom straps within a week. It was an easy mistake that was easily changed, and in fact, the second strap she made was even better than the first! She told me that if I lost any more weight before the wedding to bring it back and she would make more adjustments… even up to the week of the wedding. It wasn’t necessary btu I felt good knowing that she was quick and wanted to make me happy.
I wore that dress for a solid 10 hours and was totally comfortable the ENTIRE time. I would recommend her to anyone.
She is a very sweet woman, and very accommodating.

Definitely not worth $ 100 for the (very simple) bustle that was added to my wedding dress. The bustle had very flimsy straps with faint handwritten numbers on them, and after the dress was bustled it was lopsided and still dragged on the ground on one side.
if you’re looking for personalized service and someone who will take the time to do it right, I’m sorry to say that you should give this place a skip… When I came back for a fitting, she spent all of five minutes with me, and even though I pointed out the bustle still dragged on the ground on one side she simply said no one would notice. I would up redoing it at home to make the dress hang evenly.
Waste of time and money… I wish I’d gone somewhere that was willing to take the time to make adjustments while the dress was being fitted.

I took a skirt to Violette to hem and the experience was a complete disaster. I had bought the skirt at a small boutique several years ago and I loved the print and crêpe-​like fabric and bias cut but the length was too long to be fashionable. The skirt was also reversible with two fabrics I loved so it would mean hemming each of the reversible sides. Not a big job for anyone with a sewing machine right?
So when I dropped the skirt off I said I wanted it hemmed and explained that the skirt was reversible (hard not to notice that but I made sure to point it out because it makes a difference how the hemming is done) and we determined the length and cost and when I could come back for it.
Boy, was I shocked when I returned! Instead of hemming the skirt she had cut off the top elastic waistband and then had turned the fabric over so that the wrong side was showing on one of the reversible sides. AND the edge was raw! Huh?! The skirt was trashed. Truly. And she didn’t even apologize. I pointed out that this was not going to work and had to explain why and she said she would try to fix it. Frankly I didn’t see how this was going to be fixable but I agreed.
When I came back it was even worse. She was away on vacation but her daughter showed it to me. Now the top waistband had the wrong fabric on each side! Also, the skirt had fit fine before at the waist and hips but because she had cut off the waist and it was a-​line now it was too wide and it looked like crap.
I told her to have her mom call me when she returned but she never did.
I don’t know how someone who calls herself a tailor could make such a mistake. And again, no apology or offer to try to make it right. Terrible experience. Beware.

Violette is lovely to work with. She works quickly and is flexible and available with timing of appointments. I needed some last minute adjustments and she was able to do them in just a few days.

Violette did a wonderful job on my wedding dress :)
I was worried about finding the right place for the right price as I’m on quite a budget for my wedding but this is the place to go. Violette was able to alter the top part of my lace wedding dress, sew in cups, and make a beautiful bustle for an affordable price. She knew what she was doing and you can’t even tell it was altered. She was also able to do these three different alterations in one month which was great! Not only this but she said if I gained or lost weight in the time prior to my wedding, I could come back and she would alter it further for no additional cost. I would definitely recommend Violette to anyone else and will not hesitate to go back.

Violette did an amazing job with my wedding dress! I would recommend her to anyone!
I bought the dress in New York and had it shipped up to Boston. By the time the dress arrived, it was about 4 weeks before my wedding. I called around to various Boston seamstresses who informed me that I was an «emergency» case given the timing of my wedding. I thought that was pretty high drama (and I am not high drama). I called Violette who was able to schedule me for the next day with no drama whatsoever. And I am so, so glad that I went to her. She has done a fantastic job with my dress — I wanted it less poofy and the dress now looks perfect! And Violette is lovely person who is a delight to work with.
Violette’s prices are also very, very reasonable. I did not shop around based on price but I was perfectly happy with the price that Violette quoted me (particularly, given the the four fitting that I eventually had — it was the dress, not Violette!).
I am going to move to North Carolina in a couple months, but if I was staying in Cambridge, I would take all of my alternations to her.

My wife and I purchased our wedding gowns from a retailer in RI who does not provide alterations. She did have a list of several tailors that her other clients had used and recommended. Violette was on that list, she was close to my house so I thought lets do this.
First off she works out of her home so she sees clients in the evenings. I was always able to get a convenient time with her and she got our dresses done very quickly. Ultimately I ended up having 4 fittings (I’m short, and the dress had a long train) to get the length just right. She did a beautiful bustle for me and was able to keep the detail I would have lost in the long train. She was very easy to work with and always very friendly. My dress also had a corset in the back with she taught my mom how to do up on the big day.
She’s not inexpensive but I don’t think she’s really over priced either. Bottom line is that even if you spend 50 or 100 more going to her– its worth it because it will be done right and and on time. When it comes to wedding dresses that is super important. I had no stress working with her!

Violette did a wonderful job with my Casablanca wedding gown. She had to take it in at the bust, shorten the top of the empire waist (I am short so it looked mis proportioned), take the bottom up just a bit (did the pre-​length) and make the bustle. It was alot of money for the alterations but I thought it was very fair considering the large amount of work (shortening the top was not easy). I am told I would have paid similar at other places. Plus Violette is sweet and I love small businesses!
Pros:
1. You go to her home in the evenings = you don’t have to take off work
2. Close to my house
3. She can do it «quickly» — that is you don’t have to make an appointment 10 000 months in advance like other places
4. She is really sweet
5. Bustle withstood my nutty dance moves (I have heard horror stories of the bustle breaking… no such thing here!!)