Alterations Unlimited

I have never been treated so poorly as a customer. I went to have a bridesmaid dress hemmed and without being greeted was ordered to change as soon as I walked in. After changing I was told to stand on the block and the store owner immediately started marking my dress. When finished she said to change. When I came back out she took the dress from me and I had to ask how much it was going to be. She informed me $ 55. This was much more expensive than any of my friends paid (there are 10 bridesmaids with the same dress all of which had theirs hemmed as well) so I said thank you so much for your time but that I was going to take it to the Right Fit down the street which would only charge $ 40. The store owner then demanded I give her $ 5 for wasting her time. I told her that I didn’t think that was fair as she never told me there was a charge before beginning to mark my dress. She said she had a sign up with that information, this was true but she had a wedding dress hanging in front of the sign completely blocking it. I started to leave and she pulled the dress from me and said that if I wouldn’t pay then she didn’t want anyone else using her work. She then spent another 15 minutes of her time washing the markings off and returned the dress to me wet. Long story short, do yourself a favor and take your clothing anywhere but here. They are overpriced and rude.

I am from out of town and was really anxious about finding an alteration shop without any hometown experience. However, I am so happy with the work Alterations Unlimited did on my gown! Barb was so sweet and amazingly efficient. I’m a student with an erratic schedule, but we were easily able to schedule three fittings within a month and the dress (which had to be taken in quite a bit), turned out so beautifully, with a gorgeous and discrete bustle to finish things off. Like the previous reviewer, I also have a ball gown with a moderate length train, but I was pleased to see the bustle is low and really just makes everything fold into the dress. Overall, I found Alterations Unlimited to be great to work with from scheduling to final product.

I took my wedding dress to Alterations Unlimited after reading the amazing reviews on Unilocal — However, I would definitely not recommend this place to any bride who has a ball-​gown type dress with a train, or a bride that expects appointments to be upheld.
I live in Chicago and called Alterations Unlimited in June to schedule my three fitting appointments for the next 4 months (7/​21, 8/​25, ⁹⁄₈). I told her I’d be traveling in but keeping the dress in Saint Louis because my mom lives there and I’d be in town several times over the next 4 months — No problem!
On the day of my first fitting, everything went as planned — I arrived at 11am and I was out within 20 minutes feeling confident with my choice!
On the day of my 2^nd fitting, Saturday 8/​25, I was driving at 10:00a for my 10:30 appointment to arrive on time. On my way there, I get a call that she is running late and needs to reschedule for sometime the next week — Um hello, I’m in from out of town. So she squeezes me in for later that Saturday afternoon. Ok, fine. I get that sometimes things come up. When I arrive for my appointment, I put on my dress and find that it doesn’t fit. I haven’t gained any weight! It turns out instead of pulling in the cups (they were too big), they took in the sides of my dress! Ugh, way to stress out a bride. We decided to take out the sides, pinch in the cups, add a bustle in front and in back, and moved on with our day. I pay her everything up front on this day ($ 500!) so I don’t need to worry about anything moving forward.
On my third fitting on 9/​8, I’m on my way to AU for my 11am appointment, and I recieve a phone call at 10:33. She doesn’t have my dress done. WHAT?! This is my final fitting and she’s had my dress since July 21^st! So I try not to panic — I’m two weeks away from my wedding, I’ve paid her in full and I leave to go back to Chicago the next day. She promises me everything will be perfect if I can just come in on Sunday. OK fine.
I arrive on Sunday, and put on my dress. The sash is still not sewn completely on, the bustle looks TERRIBLE. The back of my dress looks like I’m one of Cinderella’s ugly step-​sisters with a huge fluffy butt. She tells me it’s just the way it is because I have a long train (It’s a long train but nothing too long or not average). So she tells me she’ll put a 2^nd row of bustle pins so that way it’s more even. OK fine, I must have faith. Since I have to go back to Chicago, my mom agrees to pick up my dress on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, my mom waits for a call that my dress is ready. At 5pm no call — so my mom calls there. The dress isn’t ready — STILL?! So she promises my mom it’ll be ready on Thursday. My mom and my MOH go pick up the dress and try to send me pics of the bustle — I am 8 days away from my wedding so I decided it’s OK and they left the store.
On my wedding day — I was SO unhappy with my bustle. It still looked like Cinderella’s ugly step-​sister fluffy butt. But alas, it was my wedding day and nothing I could do about it then.
All I can say — The woman who owns this shop is very nice and tried to make it right, but she did not work in a timely manner nor was she able to make the correct bustle for my dress. It was so stressful to worry about my dress in this way. I’m sure she knew how stressful and unhappy we were and never once offered a refund or a partial refund for our troubles.
If you have a simple dress and live in town (so you are flexible if she needs to reschedule) then try it out. If you expect prompt service and your items to be complete when promised — go elsewhere. Plus, it’s definitely on the expensive side.

I went to Alterations Unlimited for alterations on my wedding dress. I was referred by Clarice’s bridal and actually used Unilocal to make my decision! I saw that Barb had a great review and decided to try her myself!
Barb is so awesome! I called and asked when the latest date possible to make an appointment for alterations on my wedding dress would be because I was trying to lose weight, and she got me in 3 weeks before my wedding!
I had several appointments and was actually late to my first one because I was already running late and couldn’t find parking once I got there. It’s in a popular Kirkwood area. I had tried to call several times but the line was busy.
When I arrived completely embarrassed and panicked because I was 20 minutes late Barb was so nice and told me not to worry about it. She also apologized that I hadn’t been able to get through on the phone line.
I had several appointments with Barb and she was always so accommodating with my schedule. By the time I had my last appointment I felt like I had known her forever. You can tell she really loves what she does, and it shows through the work she produces.
My dress was a mermaid style dress so it had to be very form fitting with out being too tight. She did the alterations as well as my bustle perfectly!
If I have any more dress alterations I will definitely be back to see Barb!

This place was recommended by Clarice’s Bridal, where I got my wedding dress. I live in the city and driving out to Kirkwood was inconvenient, but it was so worth it. Barb was amazing — she is so kind, sweet, friendly and accommodating. She did a great job altering my dress (chopped off one sleeve to make it sleeveless, and got rid of the train) and she did it all in good time and the price was decent (as can be with these wedding expenses). Can’t recommend Barb enough… thanks for the great customer service!