Janene’s Tailoring

It’s been a year since i reflected on my wedding dress trauma and decided to cool off before writing this review. Dress alterations here were way expensive (500 $ +). Plus, it took over 8 months to get the thing done even after I insisted i wasn’t’ going to change sizes. She would have me come in basically to do nothing, since she had not worked on the dress since each time before. Wasting my time, and I had to drive from SF all the way to Hayward. Not to mention twice she never recalled that I had an appointment, I had to show her my slip (unorganized). She also never finished the job and I ended having to hire a second seamstress less than a week before my wedding. She said it «fit perfectly» even though the second seamstress took over three inches of slack off the midsection. Then, after careful inspection we discovered she GLUED part of the dress. Vera Wang, french laced, she glued it. Need I say more? Save yourself the stress. I think if she did do a nice job for other people, they got lucky. I have a feeling this is the normal routine. I guess it might have been after she said, «You brides, you have to worry about one wedding, I have to worry about over 300 a year»… I’m sorry, isn’t that your job? You get $$$$ for it too if my checkbook recalled…

Janene altered my dress for my wedding this past April. She did a fantastic job. When my dress first came in I went in for my fitting at Trudy’s Brides, and I almost cried… I was SWIMMING in the freaking dress… after they made a fuss about me having to order the larger size when I ordered the dress. Luckily the second I met Janene I knew I was in good hands. She kept taking in my dress (as I kept dropping pounds before the big day) to make sure it was a perfect fit for my big day. She put in the bustle, dropped the neck line, and brought up the hem a bit… since it was still too long even after Trudy’s measured the length for an additional fee from the dress maker. The dress was fantastic. She does cost a bit… but if you are looking to alter your wedding dress you should expect to have to pay a good amount, after all it is one of the most important days of your life. I didn’t mind the price because she always was checking with me to see how I liked the progress and if there was anything that needed changing. She is a sweetheart. I even went back to her in May to alter a dress when I was a bridesmaid for my friend’s wedding. She is well worth the cost!

I bought a great dress at the Glamour Closet and then used Janene’s Tailoring. It was a horrible experience. I’d hate for another bride to have my bad experience. I now consider the dress my «$ 3100 mistake» (which I personally paid for) and I will probably ceremonially trash it instead of keeping it, reselling it, or donating it. For the details, keep reading…
I went to Janene even though I’m in the city, because she advertised a 25% discount for starting your tailoring in her slow months. For the record, even with the discount, she was significantly more than the Glamour Closet advise my alteration should cost.
I started with her in November 08 and had several fittings up until my wedding in May to ensure the fit would be fine. I did loose some weight (approx 5 pounds from my first fitting), but I made sure my weight stayed constant for the last month before the wedding as we finalized the dress fittings. Note that the dress was a size 10 and I’d probably take a size 2 or 4 normally, but my impression from the glamour Closet was that Janene is recommended for these types of large alterations.
I was scheduled to pick up my dress on the morning of Wed 5/​6, to leave the city for wine country on Thurs 5/​7, and my wedding was on Friday ⁵⁄₈. When I went to pick up the dress on Wed, Janene didn’t have it ready (or my rehersal dinner dress which she took in slightly or my maid of honors dress which she steamed). I offered to come back Wed evening or Thursday morning (which meant canceling a mother/​daughter brunch planned for my maid of honor, our mom’s, my grandma, and me). In addition, we put the dress on one last time, and it suddenly had significant fit issues in the bodice — torquing, etc.
When I picked it up Thursday morning, another woman helping Janene with her «excess workload» was there instead. She had me try it on and commented that it still didn’t fit well. In fact, she said «Janene must have been sleeping when she finished this up last night. It’s not well done.» She still had to make more fit adjustments, and I had to come back another hour later to pick up up, causing my party and I to leave the city late and be late for our rehersal.
The final results were very disappointing.
#1 The seaming along the neckline was poor — with threads not trimmed and sticking out and a couple of places on the neckline not seamed together at all. Also, she completely lost the original neckline aesthetic in the tailoring — it was sort of avante gaurde with points on either side that flared out. I ended up having to clean up and finish the neckline seaming myself the night before the wedding.
#2 With the bust cups finally tacked in, you could see them if I bent over even slightly. They tended to cup towards my breast, but the neckline design tends to flare out away from the bust. I never noticed this issue because always had me stuff in the bust cups at fittings — they weren’t attached until the end when I picked it up. They insisted that I used Hollywood stick tape and that they wouldn’t sew in the cups. Unfortunately, that tape doesn’t work or stick on me, especially in this instance where the neckline is intended to flare away from the bust a bit. I ended up having to hand sew the bust cups in myself the night before the wedding.
#3 The inner lining of the dress was completely out of line, so that the middle seam (which you could see very slightly through the tafetta) kept twisting to one side of the dress.
#4 The bustle that Janene added was not functional. She bustled it so that only the top layer of the train was bustled — the under layer peek-​a-​boo pleated skirt wasn’t included in the bustling. So, the bustle dragged on the floor. My dress got really dirty, and worse, I had to be really careful dancing so I didn’t trip on it.
Finally, Janene owed me $ 125 because I’d originally wanted to add buttons to the back of the dress, but decided not before it was done. She assured me I would be refunded at some point in the process. I assumed that meant at the end when I picked up my dress. Unfortnately, at pick up, she’d left me a bill for an additional $ 70 for the alteration to my rehersal dress and steaming of my bride’s maid dress. I left a note saying that she should deduct that from the $ 125 she owed me. I instructed her to send the balance $ 55 owed to my address. She never did this. I followed up with about 20 phone calls, all to voice mail. She did call back once and say she thought a check had been sent, and that she’d send one, but she never did. She still owes my that refund. I was already considering requesting a partial refund since my dress was late and the alteration was so poor, so to have her try to overcharge me and forget about or ignore my refund is really infuriating.

Janene is very expensive. As a first time bride and a first time gown buyer, I really have nothing to compare it to, so I just paid without too much thought. But if you do not want to pay 500 – 800 to have your dress altered I would suggest looking elsewhere.
That said, she did a really great job. My dress was two sizes too big (stupid assistant at Gabrielle’s Bridal) but by the time Janene was done with it it fit perfectly and really gave me more of a defined waist than the sample size did.
I would say that she’s worth the money if you can afford it.

I had purchased my wedding dress at Glamour Closet and was referred to Janene’s because I was practically «swimming» in my dress. It was my dream wedding dress and I was determined to do anything to make it fit! It really needed to be taken in everywhere and Glamour Closet highly recommended Janene. After my first initial meeting, I felt really confidant in her. The results where amazing! She was able to work through all the intricate crystal beadings and the variations of fabric in order to make my dress fit perfectly. You couldn’t even tell all the amount of work that was done! The quality of work was superb!
I too was pretty shock at her sticker price, but I figured if you want quality work, you gotta pay for it right? And just a heads up, you won’t see results right away. She likes to work and make adjustments little by little. This was sort of a bummer for me, since I had to travel from the Peninsula and cross the Bay Bridge Bridge for my dress fitting each time (I went to 6 – 7 fittings).

Janene was the ABSOLUTE opposite of ALL the negative imputs I have read.
I too bought a very complicated dress. In other words, I found a beautiful dress and without Janene’s talent, my gown would not have been made to what I had imagined! The amount if intricate, detail-​oriented and absolutely talented work Janene did for me is more than I can describe. The quality of her work was top-​notch! Nothing came apart… nothing was uneven… nothing was less than perfect!
As for scheduling, I have a very, very busy scheule… even up until the day before we left for our destination wedding… Janene opened up her time and schedule to the attitude of…“whatever it takes… we’ll get it done… I’ll be here when you can get here.”
So, if Glamour Closet referred you to see Janene… take a very, very well known San Francisco Bridal Boutique’s advice.
And, if you feel you are paying too much for your alterations… you are paying for quality. Compare Walmart quality to Neiman Marcus. It’s an easy answer… Brides –to– be!
Visit Janene at her new Alameda Shop location… it is so quaint and elegant!
Janene,
Thank you very much for absolutely everything!

I wound up at Janene’s after buying my dress at Glamour Closet and having them highly recommend her. They said she would be less expensive than most places… they either lied or are terribly misinformed. After talking to other brides, I realized that Janene was expensive. REALLY expensive. But she seemed confident and experienced and I rationalized the cost by figuring that I had already saved a lot by scoring my dream dress at Glamour Closet, and I wanted it to fit me perfectly.
Well, she did a lousy job: I had a bulging seam on one side of my bust and my hem was uneven. I mean come on! It’s just a hem. The one thing that came out beautiful was the bustle, but unfortunately it fell apart about 30 minutes into the reception.
What’s worse is that she was terribly rude, and her demeanor deteriorated with every visit. At the final fitting, she curtly asked my mother to not set her cup of coffee on the COFFEE table. She seems to dislike brides-​to-​be, so why is she in this business?
By the way — the address listed is for Hayward, but I visited her location in Alameda.

It must have been the sticker-​shock that threw me off. But that alone was enough to start the ball rolling for my two-​star rating.
After dishing out a wad of cash for a gown, I was given, and took, the option of going with the house-​referred seamstress. Why not? The gown store plugged for her and Janene had a very pleasant disposition, in the beginning.
After going over the nips and tucks needed for the dress I was stunned at the HUGE pricetag to alter and add a bustle. I asked around to see if that was the normal rate for gown alterations… The looks on other bride’s faces told me no. Kleinfeld’s charges less.
So I call her up a day later to verify that the price covers all alterations and fittings from start to finish. It was a simple question and I wanted to make sure I was getting my money’s worth. Two days later I finally get a return call from a slightly stand-​off-​ish Janene.
«I thought I had told you…» Followed by some condescending chuckles to emphasize that I am a foolish bride. How rude.
When I’m spoken to like that, I get stand-​off-​ish as well. Fine, the price is what is. But I don’t need or want the attitude when asking a simple clarification question (for that kind of money, no less). This confirmed my suspicions that having alterations done here would be a mistake.
For a little salt in the wound, «.And I won’t start alterations until I get paid…». ee-​yah. ookay… Got it. Nicely put.
I followed my gut instinct and took my dress elsewhere and found a seamstress (albeit a longer drive) who did the same types of alterations for a far more reasonable price.

First off, Janene has over 25 years experience with wedding gown alterations and customizing. She is not only great at what she does, she is pleasant and down to earth. She is one of few seamstresses out there that you can actually trust to alter a $ 8000 wedding gown and have peace of mind leaving the gown in her hands to alter.
My bosses 2 daughters had their gowns altered by Janene and she did an amazing job both times! I even had her design and make a gown for my daughter and it was beautiful from top to bottom!
And for those brides out there looking for a seamstress to alter their wedding gown… trust me… search no more, Janene is completely trust worthy and I highly recommend her!

I would recommend Janene to anyone. She did such an amazing job on my gown — fitting it perfectly to my body, replacing a layer of tulle that had been damaged, fine-​tuning the perfect sash. I had no idea when I was recommended to her, that she was such an accomplished seamstress.
Also, in an industry (the wedding industry) where snobbery seems to be the status quo, Janene was an amazing breath of fresh air. Unlike all the cold, snobby women who work in the dress shops, Janene is actually a nice, down to earth person who won’t overcharge you! She tells you exactly what the cost of your alterations will be upfront and her prices are reasonable. I only wish everyone I dealt with was as nice, helpful and as talented as Janene.
I saw her several times for fittings (where I annoyingly changed my mind about how I wanted my dress to fit) and she rolled with all of my changes. She was never impatient and she seemed to genuinely care about doing a good job.
My dress fit perfectly on my wedding day. Compliments galore.

Do not hire Janene. She is very expensive, does very low quality work and is always late.
I think you should be aware of the low quality work she performed before you think about hiring her. My friends and I recently hired Janene who was recommended by Gabrielle’s Bridal to alter two bridesmaid dresses and a wedding dress. There were MANY issues with Janene’s work on all three dresses, but two were unforgivable.
First, The bride’s bustle broke within 90 minutes of being pinned. We had to improvise so that she could dance. The other unforgivable issue was that she was never on time with her work. The bride’s dress was still wrinkled when we showed up to pick it up and the completion date for the both bridesmaid dresses was pushed back 3 times. Janene still had to make alterations the afternoon before the wedding.
She had a very poor attitude when confronted with her lack of progress. Save yourself the grief and hire someone else.