Alterations by Kathy

Kathy was amazing in creating the veil for my wedding! I showed her photos of what I wanted and she did it exactly how I wanted it to be! I also had alterations done on a few clothing items and she did everything perfectly and in such a timely manner. She’s also very kind and sweet. She’s great at what she does and I would recommend her anytime!

Kathy is amazing! The week before my wedding I suddenly needed alterations on the length of my dress and everyone I spoke to before her would not accommodate my time frame. On top of that all the shops stop servicing customers by 5, I had a new job, worked 12 hour shifts and could not ask for more time off. Kathy was so flexible, patient and incredibly kindhearted towards my disposition. I literally could not walk like a normal person in my dress until she fixed it and she added a bustle which was a major bonus. Needless to say, my wedding day was perfect, I was able to walk in my dress and was comfortable in it the whole night. Thank you so much Kathy!

Kathy did excellent alterations on my Chiapas dress which I will be wearing on my Disney cruise to Cabo in October. She finished the dress three days ahead of schedule and did an awesome job! I will post pictures of me wearing the dress after I get back from my cruise. Thank you, Kathy!!!

Thank you for making the burlap for my baby shower! It was the perfect touch for my event! You are Thee alterations lady for my entire family!

I am the ultimate procrastinator and needed a last second alteration on a Monday for a Tuesday fix on a suit as I was leaving town for a wedding that afternoon. Kathy to the rescue!!! She was beyond flexible as I had to cancel an appointment twice and when I arrived it took about 5 minutes for her to see what was needed to be done. I picked the suit up and it was actually done before the time she promised. Kathy thank you so much for your service and your quaint and unique business. I travel all over the west and I am in Anaheim quite a bit. If I need something done you are my go to! By the way ignore the people that have negative reviews they must be unhappy people in general sorry I had to say that because she was beyond accommodating, professional and cost affordable… Thanks Kathy!

Alteration by Kathy is a life saver! Unlike most here, I didn’t go to Kathy for a wedding dress but for everyday alterations. I had a ton of clothes/​uniforms that needed hemming, taking in etc. and Kathy did an exceptional job. Her work truly shows her expertise and skill. I have now found my go-​to seamstress and will continue to recommend.

Kathy did a great job on my bridal gown. I needed the bust taken in & added bra cups. She also steamed the gown and added the 3-​tie bustle. My gown is very heavily beaded and she was able to remove the necessary beads for the alteration and put them all back in place in only a week ½. I was concerned about timing issues (I’m naturally paranoid and just wanted the gown back in my possession) my wedding is two weeks away and she made sure to work quickly but that did not effect her quality of work! She works out of her home & some comments say her work station could be cleaner but it’s mainly just other fabric and lint in the carpet. It’s not actual dirt so I don’t know why people leave those reviews. Anyhow working out of her garage /​work station was fine with me, it’s not like she has your gown laying on her kitchen table. The garage was reconstructed into a shop. I’m rambling now in her defense, but overall fast & good quality work. I didn’t do any price matching so I can’t speak to that but it seemed reasonable to me given the detailing of my beadwork and how quick she was. Will definitely recommend to friends in the area! Thanks again Kathy :-).

I had purchased my wedding dress at David’s Bridal many months ago and at the last minute decided I should probably try it on again. Low and behold, IT DIDN’T FIT anymore! Extreme panic mode set in because I only had a week before I was flying out of town to get married.
Kathy to the rescue!!! She got me in the very next day after I contacted her with my dilemma and got started on fixing my dress. Not only did my dress need work but my corset as well. She was flexible with my busy schedule and reassured me that she could make it happen on time, which she did, and time to spare. The prices that she initially quoted me were exactly what I paid.
She does AMAZING work, you couldn’t even tell that the dress had been altered in any way at all and I had the wedding of my dreams with the dress of my dreams. She even sent me a text message right before I left on my trip wishing us off.
Thank you Kathy for helping to make this possible!

Ok so let me tell you a little about my experience with Kathy. I took my wedding dress to have it altered. It is an all lace gown with scalloped lace at the bottom. Completely fitted. It was too big and much too long. So I found Kathy on Unilocal,I had actually taken the dress somewhere else but I didn’t have the best experience at the first place I went to. (She wanted me to not lose any weight 2 months before the wedding, which is so unreasonable and it I did charge me again to alter anything) Anyway, Kathy is so nice and very attentive. She also altered my aunts wedding dress and a few of my bridesmaides. My wedding is in about 2 weeks and the dress fits so great! I had 3 fittings and she was so great to work with my schedule! So the dress fit me Tight in all the right places! just the way I asked. So once I get married I’ll post pictures on here so you can see the gown. She is so welcoming and did such an amazing job on my gown. I can’t wait to wear it! Thanks Kathy! I’m so happy!:) highly highly recommend!

Kathy performed an amazing job on my wedding gown. I bought it from size 8 and she was able to make it to size 0 without altering the original look. I changed my mind several times about the details and she was very kind to keep up with me. A very nice lady.

This review is a little overdue. About a year ago, I was scrambling to find a seamstress for three bridesmaids dresses for myself and two sisters for our father’s wedding. I called Kathy up months in advance to book an appointment and she told me I didn’t need one so early and to call again closer to the date I needed the dresses ready. When the time came, she was very flexible with our scheduling needs (my sisters were driving down from LA).
On the day of our first fitting, we knocked several times before Kathy answered the door. Upon entering her garage, we found a cluttered room with a very small space and even smaller mirror for the three of us to change. The floor was covered with pins and needles which made us careful to watch our steps and keep our shoes close. Two of us had the same dress style and one of them needed to be cinched in the bust. It was a very quick visit and she assured us they would be ready before we needed them to be. One of my sisters also needed several pairs of pants hemmed and thought to bring them along as well. She had measured herself and just told Kathy how much she needed taken off. I thought it was strange that Kathy just took her word and didn’t remeasure since my sister isn’t experienced with such things.
When we returned to pick up the dresses, the bust on the wrong dress had been cinched. It ended up fitting fine and she quickly cinched the correct dress, but that seemed like a mistake that shouldn’t have been made. The dresses were also still just a tad bit too long.
It wasn’t until the wedding several days later when we were steaming the bridesmaid dresses that we noticed blue marker along the bottom and water marks like it had been soaked to remove it. Needless to say, we were not happy. I had read another review saying there was marker on the bottom of a gown but disregarded it since I needed to make an appointment so quickly. Why on earth would you use marker on a dress? I’m no professional, but this seems like a terrible idea. The only photo I have does not do justice to how bad the marks were. The price we paid was absolutely not worth what we received. I appreciate the flexibility in appointment setting, but the final result was very disappointing.
Maybe if you need pants hemmed or something else simple, Alterations by Kathy might work for you, but I would not suggest it for any wedding related garments.

I can’t say enough how happy I am that I found Kathy.
I bought my wedding dress on sale at an expo and needless to say the thing was practically falling off of me. I made only one appointment for alterations at Mariposa and I was not impressed. To be safe I made another appointment at another alteration place to broaden my options. Going there was my second mistake because they just would not listen to what I wanted. Since my dress was just way too big in the bust area they wanted me to add pads to «fill it out» which doesn’t look good on someone my size. Luckily Kathy was able to see me the same day at very short notice.
My main concern was to fit the bust to my size. No extra pads, just have it fit to me. I know it was hard because the dress was just way too big, but Kathy listened to me and understood what I meant. Without trying to argue with me or tell me I should want something otherwise, she agreed to take out the boning and make the top part of my dress smaller.
We were in and out of the appointment in about 30 minutes and she asked me to come by the FOLLOWING week. I was stoked that my first fitting would be that soon.
When I came back I almost cried because my dress actually fit without just falling completely off. I knew it wasn’t completely done but I could already tell that Kathy knew what she was doing and she knew exactly what I wanted.
My final fitting was yesterday and putting my dress on was so magical. The beading was more beautiful than it was before, the hem was done perfectly and my dress became my dress. Finally.
Kathy is so sweet, so talented and has the biggest heart. She wasn’t just a seamstress that saw me as just another customer with silly expectations, she was a lifesaver. Even afterwards, when I was done gawking at myself and how perfect my dress turned out, she told me the kindest words about marriage and wished me all the best.
If you’re looking for a person who listens, knows what she’s doing and will do your alterations at a reasonable price in a reasonable time frame, Kathy is the person to go to. She really is a life saver and I can’t thank her enough for saving my dress.

BRIDES: STAY. AWAY.
It’s hard to write this because Kathy is extremely nice, but I just don’t think she is a professional.
1. I called in December and made my first fitting appointment for January 27^th. She works out of her home and when I showed up and knocked on the door, there was no answer. I knock a little louder, no answer. Then again a third time. I finally called her and she had no idea we had an appointment but said she can take me anyway. Turns out, she forgot to write the appointment down in her new calendar.
2. She works out of her garage — which I was okay with at first — but the problem is she doesn’t keep it clean! It looks like she hadn’t vacuumed in months. I was instantly worried about the dress getting dirty. If you’re going to work out of your home, you should at least take the time to keep it clean. I should have politely told her then and there that I decided to go with someone else, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
3. The space you have to try on your dress is tiny. I had a long train and there wasn’t enough room for me to see it all laid out, much less take even a step. When my mom and I asked whether we could go inside and try it on somewhere with more room she responded by saying she hadn’t swept her floor in weeks. as if her garage wasn’t already super dirty as well.
4. I am a dog lover — I have three dogs of my own. Kathy is also a dog lover. She has two cute little ones. She let her dogs into the garage with us the first time which I thought was weird — what if I was a client who didn’t like dogs? what if they shed on my dress? But I let it go. It wasn’t until my 3^rd or 4^th fitting that I really got upset… Remember the small space I was telling you about? The ONLY space you have to try on your dress? Well one her dogs PEED right in the middle of where I was trying on my dress. When I told her, she said she was embarassed and that the dog was old and can’t always control his/​her bladder… if you know that about your dog WHY let them in where your clients are trying on their dresses? Then she wiped it up with water and moved part of the rug out of the way. but there was still more on the carpet. I was mortified, but for some reason I can’t think of now, I stuck with her.
5. I go to pick up my dress FOUR days before my wedding, I try it on, and it looks virtually exactly the same as it had when I brought it in (except the buttons she sowed on crooked.) The bust was still so big that if I bent over, you could have seen… everything. When I told her, she said it was impossible to fix and to go to JoAnn’s or something and get two sided tape… WHAT!!! I was so upset at this point, I didn’t even want to tell her how the hips were still too big and everything else I was thinking.
6. THEN SHE TRIED TO CHARGE ME $ 400!!! FOUR. HUNDRED. FLIPPIN’. DOLLARS.
After that, I called my mom in tears letting her know how awful it looked and she said she knew of a lady an hour away that may be able to fix it. So at 8:00 p.m., four days before my wedding, I am driving an hour to find another seamstress who can HOPEFULLY fix what Kathy couldn’t. When I got there, I could instantly tell she was an expert. She also worked out of her garage, but it was clean and gave you more space. I picked up my dress two days later and it was PERFECT. She fixed the bust, the hips, the bustle, the cap sleeves and the buttons. AND ONLY CHARGED ME $ 150!!!
Bottom line: unless you have a super easy alteration, go somewhere else. I called Mariposa to let them know and they told me they have stopped recommending Kathy. I don’t know if this is because of other complaints, but it’s for the best.

I took my wedding dress to Kathy for alterations this year. Despite a pricey quote (she claimed it would be the maximum I would pay and there is a good chance I would pay less), and her disorderly garage where she allows her dogs to run around, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. How could all these glowing Unilocal reviews steer me wrong? Ultimately, I found her work on my dress, as well as her level of professionalism, to be quite mediocre:
After the second fitting, I realized that the top part of my dress was too big and let her know via text. She replied that she had already done all the final stitching and would have to charge me extra to fix it. This rubbed me the wrong way because she had forgotten to sew the cups into the bust, so how could she had gone ahead with final stitches before we did a final fitting with the cups? Ultimately Kathy apologized for her lack of professionalism and did more work on the bust, supposedly at no charge. I was ready to continue giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Kathy had also offered to sew some beading onto my wedding veil. She made it sound like she could include this in the price she quoted me, but after sending her some bead samples, she indicated that they would have to be sewn on by hand, and when I asked her to quote me a price for this, she curtly replied that she is currently busy on a project and never provided any follow up response. So despite her apologies earlier, a further lack of professionalism.
Kathy charged me the maximum price that she quoted me despite several mentions that she would likely be able to complete my dress for less than this price. And ultimately, despite a number of fittings where we made adjustments, the area between the bust and the boning. the area was still too big and consistently bunched up throughout my wedding. You can judge the pictures for yourself.
Was this a complete disaster? No. Would I expect more for my wedding dress and more for my money? Absolutely. She is overall a nice person and I wish her the best, but I would not recommend her to my friends or fellow Unilocalers.

Kathy did a wonderful job taking in my bridesmaid dress for an upcoming wedding. This was my first time getting a dress altered, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Kathy, however, made me feel completely at ease and did a great job fixing up my gown! :) The price was incredibly reasonable, and she got it done in a super quick time frame. I’ll definitely be back for the next wedding! :)

Kathy is amazing! She understands what it means to be a bride on a budget and how to deliver in quality. I had no problem with her working out of her home because I’m sure that is what allows her to be inexpensive. I highly recommend her!

Where do I even start with Kathy? She is amazing! She made great suggestions for buying more fabric for the alterations needed for my wedding dress, and the best dry cleaner in the area so we can get the dress steamed and preserved afterward.
The cost was SO great as well. She added a whole second layer to my dress so you couldn’t see my undergarments through it, and created a bustle. Plus, alterations for my mom’s dress. All that for $ 250! You can’t beat that pricing anywhere! Especially in a bridal store.
I will be telling everybody I know about Kathy. I was able to trust her with my wedding dress, I’ll trust her with anything else, anytime!

Kathy was awesome. I needed my wedding dress altered quite a bit in a short amount of time and she did a great job! She was so sweet considering I had to bring my 2 year old daughter with me. I will definitely go back to her again and recommend her to friends

Nothing but good things to say about Kathy! I needed my dress to be a bit bigger and figured she could use the sleeves as material. Then I left the dress with her and proceeded to freak out because I wanted the sleeves after all and had no idea how we’d replicate them. Well, Kathy managed to find material to re-​make them that was pretty much an EXACT match. They look amazing AND the dress fits!
Now that I have it back from her of course I want something else done… I am not worried, I know I can trust her. Kathy, I’ll see you again in a few months! ;)

I was referred to Kathy by my bridal salon, Mariposa Bridal, and I have to say Kathy did an AMAZING job on my dress. Even when I had the typical bride second thoughts and started to question my dress selection Kathy was patient and walked me through it and when I came to pick up my dress I could not be happier.
Her work was impeccable and her personality and quick response to my questions was greatly appreciated. And to the young lady who commented about a SHARPIE — it was NOT a sharpie and my dress was fine.
Thank you Kathy for helping to make it the happiest day of my life!