Tails

Amazing jobs on dress and skirt I recently had altered. Huge repair jobs, but they looked new and fit me perfectly! Charged me far less than i thought they would for the amount of work involved. I’ve also had them fix pants and shirt sleeves with excellent results. Love them!

Service was great but I was very shocked that a simple hem on a dress with no other alterations was $ 70. I was happy with the final product and they were able to turn it around quickly for me, but I could get similar quality for a lesser price elsewhere…
Also this Unilocal listing is out of date — they do in fact accept credit cards.

I highly recommend this tailor shop. Lisa is one of the most talented and professional tailors I have ever met! She is a genius at altering clothes. I no longer worry about not buying something because it’s too big, I know she can work wonders to make it just right. I will continue to go here from now on.

Dropped off yesterday to pick up today and after calling a bogus number they provided was finally able to reach them via text messaging only to find out that I cant pick up till 5! Whats the point of dropping it off the day before. In a big city like Chicago there’s many other dry cleaners that are better. Dont go here.

When I needed a bridesmaid dress altered, I was thrilled to see a well-​reviewed tailor conveniently located in my neighborhood. However, what I thought would be routine alterations turned into a bridesmaid dress nightmare. The Tails seamstress (Monica?) took it upon herself to take in the slightly loose top portion of my dress by cutting it in half (down the front center of the bust), as opposed to going with the more typical method of taking in the sides or adjusting it in the back. The result was a horrendous Frankenstein of a hem down the center of my gown. Because the top of the gown was ruched, the two sides now had very different and distinct ruching patterns. When I saw their work I was absolutely mortified. It was immediately clear that it would no longer looked like the other bridesmaid dresses. Worse yet, I was charged a whopping $ 150. (In talking with the 7 other bridesmaids, no one else paid more than $ 65 for their similar alterations to the same dress.) When I expressed my concerns about the look of the altered dress, the seamstress agreed with me that it looked bad, but said she wasn’t sure how to fix it and went so far as to recommend I take it somewhere else to be corrected at my expense. The mistake I can handle, but the terrible customer service I can not. Think twice about doing business with this store.

Joe has been my tailor for years, and he is unquestionably the best in Chicago. Joe did the impossible this March when I brought him a size 2 wedding dress that needed to fit my size four body! Joe and his wife worked a miracle, and I looked amazing on my wedding day.

Had two suit jackets tailored here about a year ago, they came out perfect. Definitely coming back real soon.

I used to live across the street from this tailor and was recommended to go here by a coworker. They are a little pricey but if you have something you really want a good job done on then this is the place, Joe is the best tailor in Chicago! I got married last year and had him tailor some of my heavily beaded indian outfits for my wedding because I didn’t trust the shady tailors on devon street! He did such an amazing job and is so talented and so nice. I have seen reviews on here that he is snobby about what he tailors — but he is an expert tailor and charges a lot so I wouldn’t bring my jeans to get hemmed here or anything like that. He also normally take a 3 – 4 week vacation at the end of the summer so beware of that! I had an awful experience with another tailor in the city where I took my wedding dress to, and I wish I had taken it to him — such a mistake. I know he would have done an amazing job. I would highly recommend him with anything you really like and want to look amazing. He is the best! His wife works there as well and is also so friendly and nice :)

I’ve used Tails about 6 times for adjusting mens shirt sleeve lengths and tailoring pants. Never had a bad experience. Will continue to use as my go-​to tailor.

Joe and his sweet wife do great work. I have taken a dozen suit coats, a couple jackets, numerous skirts, etc. to them to down size them from 8/​10s to 4s on a very curvy body. Excellent work, beautiful fit, wonderful time getting them marked up. Pleasant, talented people.
Remember, they are human and not going to be perfect every time. I have a quirky, curvy body that is tough to tailor to and yet he hits the mark 99 times out of 100, with minor adjustments on the one near miss. There are just some things that cannot be adjusted, at least they are very honest and upfront about the work that they can do.
They are the most honest and talented team around — they deserve the slightly higher prices.
If clearly most of the reviews are 5-​star, you can disregard the one or two that experienced the very rare exception. Usually only the disgruntled go out to enter a review. There are enough of us that think so highly of their work that we made an effort to go out here and praise them.

Size 0 pants needed to be taken in on the sides. The woman ‘pinned’ me the first time and when I came back realized they were now too tight (pockets on the side were stretched and they were too tight around the thigh when I sat down).
The gentleman then used the chalk marker on me to let them out again, and now they’re too big. I didn’t ask to fix it again, bc at some point you just give in. I’ll just wait to take them home to mom. Sigh, I really want pants that fit.
Nice friendly couple though.

I almost don’t want to share my review because this place is such a great find that once the word gets out my wait for tailoring is going to be painful.
Joe is a master tailor! He has done everything for me over the past few years — leather, crushed velvet, tuxes, shirts. He does a excellent job, charges a fair price and turns things around amazingly quick.

Joseph has bailed me out more than a couple of times. He’s made two dresses for me to use as bridesmaid dresses and they fit me for years to come! They both flattered my body very nicely more than most any dress I could buy off the rack. He also fixed a horrible bridesmaid dress fiasco. The sales lady insisted that I buy a dress that was THREE sizes too big and told the bride if I ordered the smaller size she’d be left with a bridesmaid without a dress… ANYWAY I took it to Joseph and after laughing at the ridiculous amount of extra fabric he was able to cut, snip, and fold away until it looked halfway decent. Seriously I didn’t think that I could wear that dress in public until he fixed it. I’ve also gone to him for small things like adding snaps, shortening blazers etc here and there without ever being disappointed.

Joe is awesome. I have had about 4 suits altered by Joe and he is extremely professional and ridiculously talented. The man can do wonders with a suit and does everything the right way — natural fibers, actual basting, etc. If you actually want something professionally tailored go to Joe. Yes, he isnt cheap, and it is cash/​check only, BUT Joe is the one doing the work, in the back, by hand. You get what you pay for. Joe is an old-​school european tailor and was a tailor at Oxxford for gods sake, he is the best in the city.

I have brought in 2 different items to have altered. I understand if you can’t do it because not everyone can do all things.
The most notable were the silk halter dress I brought in to have restyled and the vintage leopard print coat to have repaired. I was told that he wouldn’t be able to repair the coat to it’s former glory because of the type of repair needed and that the dress couldn’t be taken in a certain way. I told him that minor alterations in the design doesn’t bother me. I Told him that both were larger in some places and was there something that could be done with that? Is there something I can do? «Go shopping.» he said. Really? REALLY???
I know that there are some pieces of clothing that simply CANNOT be saved, but I have also spent most of my adult life in theater watching the costumers do AMAZING repairs between shows, so I know that these pieces aren’t above repair. I just know that he was rude. TWICE. I’ll be calling a costumer to have them hook me up and here I was trying to patronize a local business.

I inherited some beautiful clothing that belonged to my stylish grandmother. Instead of keeping it around waiting for «someday» to do something with it, I brought it to Tails.
The owner was very friendly and did excellent work. A vintage Pucci robe found a new life with almost identical original buttons (not quite, but close) and a wool cape with a bulk of fabric became tailor made just for me.
As others have said, it was expensive but for higher end items this is an excellent investment.

I was recommended to Joe last year for a suit alteration and it was spot on. Since I’ve had multiple shirts taken in and have not been disappointed. I can buy shirts I love that are too big and know he can handle the job. Joe is friendly and skilled. Accept no substitute.

Joesph and Irina are fabulous. They take the time to ensure your clothes fit you. It is much better than the dry cleaner or Nordstrom’s, and probably more expensive, but so worth it! They are nice, genuine people, I have used them for years, and have never had a complaint. You will need to plan ahead, a great job is not done overnight.

I almost forgot to write a review of this place! I only met Joe but he was a very kind, knowledgeable and patient tailor. And they have Saturday hours, unlike my other favorite tailor.
I got some jeans and some pants hemmed to my h/​w proportionate 32 inch inseam. What is up with women’s pants being 36 inches long??? I don’t want to wear heels all the time. I didn’t have to even say a word and Joe said «it’s difficult for women», because maybe you want to wear the pants with heels or flats depending on the day. So he made me a happy medium. I can get away with wearing these pants in a couple different types of shoes.
When I had an anxious moment and wanted to try the pants on again to make sure the length was right, he understood. I also like the framed pencil drawing on the wall. I noticed he was also very attentive when tailoring a men’s jacket, and got into a lengthy discussion with some woman about her coat liner. I think he cares about your clothes almost as much as you do.

I agree with the other reviews — this shop is pricey, but well worth it. Tails is a charming Mom and Pop shop run by Joe and his wife. I took an off-​the-​rack designer suit to Joe. It now looks like it was hand tailored; it’s a perfect fit.
In the past, I have used Macy’s or Nordstrom’s tailoring services when buying suits there. I hadn’t realized what shoddy work they did. I just assumed that when buying off-​the-​rack that you might not have the best fit. Joe proved me wrong. I’ll be taking my suits to him from now on.