Sew Images

I had a sewing class with Cecilia tonight and it was really great. I’m a total newbie, with no real idea of how to navigate a sewing machine; I’m just on a mission to learn some new stuff and we happen to have a machine that doesn’t get used much. Cecilia was patient but also funny, and after showing me something (like, say, threading a bobbin), she’d always make me repeat it myself. It was super fun and I can’t wait to start my first real project!

Cecilia is great! Knowlegable, helpful, friendly, reasonable. A no-​nonsense resource for your special projects!

My wonderful fiancé bought me a robe for my birthday and wanted to get it monogrammed with my soon to be letters! He took it to sew images and said Cecilia was so nice and polite when talking to her in the store. However, once he picked up the completed robe we were greatly disappointed. The monogram on the robe looked nothing like the correct initials. It was supposed to be LLJ and it looked more like UUG. We even asked our friends and they could not even tell what letters they were supposed to be. I personally decided to call the store. I politely requested that it either be redone or simply get a refund. When I asked for that Cecilia got angry. She said that was the font my fiancé picked out and that if I wanted it redone I would have to pay to get the stitches taken out and the monogram redone. I explained how the monogram looked nothing like my letters. She then asked for my full name and claimed she knew me personally when I have never been to the store, nor met her and live over 25 miles away. She then proceeded to tell me to just come back to the store and we could work something out without specifying how much she was going to charge me. I live over 45 minutes away and this is extremely difficult for me, especially without knowing how much money she was going to charge me to fix it. I am in the process of working with my bank to get a refund as Sew Images is not willing to work with me.
My fiancé and I will never use Sew Images again. They have poor quality and a lack of customer service. It is very disappointing that I now have a robe with incorrect letters on it. Please don’t let Sew Images ruin any of your items.

Cecilia is great. She fixed my 20 years old Singer machine, gave me a lesson on how to use each element and now I am sewing and making clothes again. Happy customer

Cecelia is a peach!
I couldn’t be happier with the logo she custom set up and embroidered for me.
The shirts look great and done in just a few days.
I’ll definitely be back.

I managed to get a piece of a broken needle stuck in my machine and jammed it solid. Got a tune up and removed the piece of needle for about $ 100. Cecelia was a delight to work with (another person does the repair work), and will definitely be visiting them again. I live in Alameda, and unfortunately it appears that our local machine repair shop has gone down the tubes, so I’m very lucky to have found Sew Images only 15 minutes away.

I brought my sewing machine in to Cecilia of Sew Images for an advertised «FREE“Estimate. There was nothing «FREE» about it she worked on the machine without my consent and then called me and told me the machine was unfixable and I would have to pay $ 95 dollars for the repairman’s time. Not once did I sign anything to authorize repairs to be made to the machine as I only brought the machine in for a «Free» Estimate. She knew that the machine was my mothers and that it was sentimental to me broken or not because I told her when I brought it to her for a «FREE» estimate. She used that fact to hold the Machine Hostage Until I paid. In the end my husband had to get involved and bargain with her for a service that was supposed to be «FREE». All together we ended up with a lot of hurt feelings and a bill for $ 25. I would strongly caution anyone to use this women’s services as they are not worth the trouble. Caution Cecilia is quick to turn to belligerent and verbally abusive behavior when questioned about her fraudulent business practices.

Service was prompt and efficient, staff was kind, so that earns some starts. But this place is a huge RIPOFF!!! $ 95!!! That’s more than my machine is worth!
She couldn’t quote me a price because didn’t know what was wrong with my machine. Turns out, a thread was caught. They removed the thread.
They also did a full tune up (which I did not ask for) and charged me for it!
NEVER going back. Looks like a lot of other Unilocalers had the same experience
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To follow up, I was contacted by the owner after the original encounter. She just called me to argue that I am wrong for feeling ripped off! She put the blame on me and showed truly horrid customer service and common decency. Atrocious!

I cannot begin to state what a wonderful experience it is to enter this little store on Piedmont Avenue. There are passionate helpers there especially the wonderful owner. If you want to learn to sew or want to buy the best. «Bernina» this is a welcome home.
Thanks to you all

I went in on referral for embroidery. Had bathrobes for bridesmaids’ gift to be personalized.
The owner Cecilia was nice and seemed like she knew what she was doing. I chose a font and requested the names «across» the back of robes. We decided that space in the front was too small.
After a couple weeks I got call to pick it up and I came in to pay for it. I did not check the work until I got home. The embroidered names on the back were so tiny it made zero sense. You’d have to squint to see it at all.
I called her, she was irritated and said it was my «font». That was the biggest she could do. What!!! She never told me it would be so small you’d need a magnifying glass.
We discussed to have the names «across» width of back.
She proceeded to tell me I needed to pay for her to take it out, on top of what I already paid. Further more, the work was crappy. Threads hanging off the letters and uneven words.
I was so excited to find a place to go for sewing classes too. But now, I’d never set foot in that place again. I’ve always been one to support independently owned Oakland businesses but stay away from this one.
Adding insult to injury– taking out the names would ruin the robes. Will never spend a dime here again.

My experience with Cecilia at Sew Images has been consistently awful, as she is unprofessional, rude and dishonest. After an initial phone call with a very sweet and helpful person, NOT Cecilia, to determine if Sew Images could handle replacing a computer card in my Bernina, I took my machine into the store for the servicing. I made arrangements to get to Oakland from San Francisco. Cecilia was rude, abrupt and apparently took down my contact information incorrectly during my drop off of the machine. After waiting more than a month to hear from her about the status of my machine’s repair, I started calling and leaving messages. She did not return my calls. When I finally got hold of her, she claimed that she had been calling me, but apparently had the wrong number. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I traveled to Oakland to pick up my machine. My mistake was not having her run the machine before I left the shop to test that it worked after the repair. When I finally had a project that required using my Bernina, I found that it still did not work. There was a test piece with brown thread under the presser foot as if it had been tested, but the thread in the needle and bobbin was white. I have written two emails to Cecilia regarding this matter. No answer. I have been defrauded of $ 200.00 for a service I did not receive! BUYER BEWARE of Sew Images and Cecilia Franklin!

3 words for $ 28 seems like a lot but I’m not keen on how much these things are supposed to cost.
Brought in an apron on Wednesday to have 3 words embroidered (not more than an inch in size) and was told it would be ready by Saturday.
The only really frustrating thing about the experience was trying to get an estimated time frame of when the apron would be done. When I asked when I could expect it, the lady sternly told me she had a lot of orders but it would be ready by Saturday. I probably should have been more direct about when exactly I needed it but I just figured they close at 6pm so it would have to be done before then…
I called around 3pm and was told it would be ready by 4:30. Luckily I was able to get it wrapped and ready for a bday dinner… but it was definitely cutting it close.
I’d recommend bringing in your items way in advance just in case they are backed up and can’t turn an order over quickly.

Cecilia is the best. If you have a problem or a simple question, she handles both with ease

Cecilia saved me — I was working on a big art project that involved sewing lots of industrial felt and although I had not bought my machine from her (which I regret) she let me bring it in and she figured out what I was doing wrong just out of kindness. So rare these days to have good locally owned shops where people treat each other kindly. I felt like I’d gone back in time… in a really good way.
I bought a bunch of «extras» — chalk marker, needles, weights, thread — and will go back for any/​all of my sewing needs.
It became so clear to me all that is lost through the big heartless sewing/​fabric stores. Sew Images is a great resource for our community — it deserves to be supported, and enjoyed.

Pros:
They fixed my Babylock Decorator’s choice. A part inside broke off and they were able to replace it and get it good as new. For that, I am grateful. It took about 2 months, but, to be fair, they had to order a part that was out of stock and THEN replace it. It was quite an ordeal, but they got it done and the cost of that and a servicing was reasonable.
Cons:
When I got my machine, it was dirty and scraped. The person who fixed it had not wiped it down. There were weird dust particles and dirt on it, and scuffs. Now, I don’t really care THAT much about dirt, but it just felt a little like good customer service would fix that problem. Plus, isn’t that part of getting my machine serviced?
They took my power cord and pedal. A cautionary tale for anyone bringing in their machine: make SURE they mark down that you bring in the pedal and power cord with the machine. If not, they will not give it back.
My husband brought in my machine. I am 100% certain that I gave them my power cord and pedal. They didn’t mark it down. He didn’t check carefully. When I got my machine back, I couldn’t use it, because I had neither.
When I called, they insisted they did not have the pedal and power cord and that I didn’t bring it in because it wasn’t marked on the receipt. Be that as it may, I would NEVER have brought my machine in without these items because I would never have thought they could actually FIX my machine without them. They conceded that they would give me a power cord, but I had to purchase a new pedal for more than $ 30. The worst thing is that when I called to ask about them, they told me, «You don’t need the pedal to run the machine. You can sew without it.» I felt like that was a bit rude. Sure, I CAN press a start and stop button, but I like using the pedal. The pedal is important to me. And, besides, whether or not I can use it without it is irrelevant to the fact that THEY STILL HAVE IT!
They cast enough self-​doubt that I scoured my sewing area thinking maybe it was my mistake, but there aren’t that many places a giant pedal and power cord combo can hide, so I know they still have it, even though they claim they don’t. But, what can you do?
I give them 2 stars for fixing the machine at a reasonable price, but I’m disappointed with the lack of professionalism and stealing of my pedal.

I love this place… Cecilia is very helpful and super knowledgable about her machines. She is a no-​nonsense lady, and she knows her stuff! They carry great and reliable products at a fair price. Awesome local business!

My sewing machine was having issues — and by issues, I mean that the needle kept hitting the strike plate and splintering off. I decided to look into fixing it before I lost an eye.
My original plan was to tighten the screw on the needle bar, because I thought that it was off kilter and that’s why it was hitting the wrong spot… when I went to Sew Images looking for a screwdriver, they told me to just bring in the machine. Luckily I live two blocks away, so I carried it over a few days later.
They asked me a bunch of questions about my usage, how I maintained the machine etc… and inspected the needle closely and took several turns with a sample fabric. They essentially determined that I was more likely than not pushing/​pulling the fabric as I was sewing (I’m impatient) and that’s the only thing that seemed to be wrong with the machine.
I learned quite a bit about my machine, and they kindly (up)sold me some machine oil. Both of the ladies were friendly once they understood I wasn’t messing around… but I can understand why some people with less confidence might be intimidated by the shop.
(I’ll admit that I was also there because the née Longs no longer has a sewing section. :-(But I’m glad I came!)

Came here looking for a curved upholstery needle, had checked out a few other places with no luck. Damn the Longs/​CVS for down-​scaling, but I suppose I should support my local sewing stores instead. But I really loved that Longs on Broadway.
Anyways, the owner (I’m assuming) had some people there and was chit-​chatting, but as soon as I came in was quite helpful, in and out in 5 minutes, got my needle (she knew exactly where on the wall it was, well out of eyesight), got me some heavier duty thread, and now all’s I got to do is start repairing my couch.
Will be back once I «borrow» my friend’s Singer and start having fun.

I originally took my Baby Lock serger to Berkeley Vacuum and Sewing Center – what a fiasco! What I thought would be a routine tune-​up turned into a 9-​week long nightmare… in the end: they told me that they couldn’t fix my machine, the only thing they thought they could fix was my broken lower looper (for nearly $ 250!!), and that it would cost nearly $ 700 to ship it back to Baby Lock to be completely fixed – and then they kept my deposit! … … … Thankfully, I then found Cecilia.
What a joy. I dropped off my machine, gave her my disaster of a tale – she just laughed and said she could definitely fix it up, and would keep my machine no longer than a few weeks. True to her word, a week and a half later, and only $ 145 total– my machine is back in my possession and in excellent working condition! woo-​hoo!
I will definitely be back– and will be sending everyone and their mother here. :)

I found out about and registered for the class super last minute by calling Cecilia the day before the start date and she was able to fit me in. Cecilia is pleasant and the class I am in consists of 8 women, all 30 – 40 age range. The class that I am taking is called Beginning Sewing I: From the Start. This is a 5 classes series that consists of a weekly 3 hour class from 6pm — 9pm. The class in 5 parts costs $ 175 (not including materials, which you would have to purchase yourself) consists of:
Class 1: Sewing and general concepts
Class 2: How to read pattern, marking and cutting patterns, and custom fitting.
Class 3: Sewing machine, sewing seams, finishing seams.
Class 4: Pressing techniques and pressing tools
Class 5: Finish sewing project
The series consists of making of a garment from patterns, and we are not expected to touch a sewing machine until the 3^rd class.
There is a lot of learning — about fabrics, patterns, and cuts. Thus far what I find the most interesting thing I have learned is why clothes don’t fit and how to make adjustments. It is an eye-​opening experience for me to take this class. Cecilia is very organized and knowledgeable — you will learn things in her class that won’t be found in your regular beginning sewing book.
As for the store, you won’t find fabrics or patterns here. The small store offers a good selection of notions (Cecilia has mentioned that she’s picky about the quality of what she puts in her store), some books, sewing machines, and sewing furniture (which needs to be ordered and then delivered).
There are other classes available but schedules are still being worked out. Beginning Sewing seems to be the most popular regular class.