Sew Special Custom Tailors

CLOSED.
Good luck getting your shit back. They weren’t smart enough to leave a sign with their new address or phone number.
Thanks A holes.

My experience here inspired me to write my first Unilocal review. I went with a friend who was getting clothes altered and she told me they had done a good job in the past. Unfortunately I did not look at these reviews! I agree with much of the recent postings – the dog scene is awkward. It went straight between my legs when I walked through the door. I like dogs, I’ve owned several in the past, but I would never force anyone to interact with my dog, which is essentially what happens if you go inside.
I found the prices pretty shocking, but I’ll let you decide. Here is what I paid:
2 pairs of pants that needed one leg re-​hemmed: $ 10 each
1 pair of cuffed pants that needed one leg re-​hemmed: $ 15 (because the cuff makes it «harder»)
1 pair of pants that needed a ½ inch repair to a torn seam on the pocket front: $ 20 (because it’s «complicated»).
Grand total: $ 55
When I expressed surprise at these prices, I was assured they are the «best in the business». Could I have left and found another place? Yes, but I didn’t want to spend more time on public transportation dragging my pants around looking for someone to hem them! I have since asked around at a couple of cleaners in my neighborhood, and was quoted prices about half of what Sew Special charges. When I got the pants back, the repairs are just the basic hems I was expecting, and the torn pocket seam is fine, no longer noticeable but not stunningly re-​crafted either. So yeah, I’ll be taking my hemming and sewing needs elsewhere and I recommend you do the same. Or hell, maybe I’ll just learn to sew!

WOW. Talk about ARROGANCE.
On a recommendation from a friend, I went to Sew Special to have a bridesmaid’s dress altered. When I walked in to Sew Special, I was immediately shocked. In the teeny tiny «waiting area,» a giant dog was hanging out. I had a $ 200 dress in my hands that I did not want dog hair getting all over. I found this so inappropriate that I almost left, but considering there were quite a few people waiting and calling on the phone, I thought I’d stick it out. Turns out, so many people were waiting, because the customer service and time management at this place are simply pathetic. Among many other red flags, a woman with an appointment had to wait almost 35 minutes past her appointment time to be helped.
After waiting an hour (only 2 people ahead of me), I finally got measured and pinned. Then, as I was checking out, I was told that my alterations would cost $ 140. When I said I wanted to think about it, I immediately got attitude from the owner. He carried on about how he’s number one in the midwest and I came there for a reason. And then he had the nerve to tell me that people like me are exactly why he’s getting out of the retail business and into commercial — because people like me come in with expensive gowns and think the alterations are going to be cheap! I was not the only person he spoke to this way in the shop.
Needless to say, after an hour and a half at Sew Special, I got my dress altered somewhere else for $ 80 and it is beautiful. You’d be silly to go to Sew Special unless you like paying for a «reputation» that will be rubbed in your face.

Pretty disappointing here over the course of two visits. Went in on a Saturday afternoon to drop off a suit and two shirts for dry cleaning. It was pretty unpleasant on arrival as I was greeted by a big dog who was free to roam the premises. I really don’t want to dwell on the dog business, but it is unsettling in a place specializing in the care and maintainence of wearables, that a dog is wandering around. Nice dog I’m sure, but c’mon.
I was told everything would be ready on Tuesday so went back near closing time on Tuesday and everything was ready but my suit jacket, which was still off premises at the plant. The woman at the counter told me I could come back the next day and I told her I wouldn’t be around during business hours to pick the suit up and would somehow need a different arrangement. The owner (I presume) called the plant and my jacket was delivered to the store within about 30 minutes. He apologized a couple of times and explained to me how he makes no money in dry cleaning, and that his business thrives on sewing. Thanks for the info.
2 stars because the dry cleaning is fine… just about everything else lacks.

Don’t go here unless you’d like to wait 45 minutes beyond your appointment time to get any help. At some point, Martin, the tailor, will come breezing in with a tray of fast-​food drinks in hand, seemingly oblivious to the time. That happened to me TWICE, and I’ve only BEEN to this place twice. Both times, Martin gave the excuse that «my other store made me late.»
Trying to decide on a fabric, I asked Martin for fabric swatches — either white or pastel — nothing in black. He brought me two swatches: one in black, and one in Halloween orange. «Is there anything else?» I asked. «Oh, I don’t have time to look,» he said. «You should see the basement. It’s a mess.»
Then there’s a big dog in the shop who sniffs your crotch or drools on your leg while you’re sitting there. Nervous, can’t sit still, barks at the top of his lungs. It’s Martin’s dog. A sweet dog, but not well-​mannered. The workers are scolding him constantly. It makes the environment like a madhouse.
And there’s a middle-​aged lady who talks a LOT. She’s nice enough, but kept one of the other customers waiting while she told me a story about having her purse stolen. Oh, another thing. At one point, when this lady was done wiping the drool off the dog’s mouth with a Kleenex, and then rubbing his head, she didn’t bother to wash her hands. She just squirted a little bit of antibacterial stuff on her hands, and went on handling the fabrics. Yech.
This place is a zoo. I do NOT recommend it.

I’n shocked that they are as busy as they seem to be. A simply skirt I brought it had to be taken back THREE times, as they just couldn’t get it right. It was never ready when I went to pick it up and no one could agree on a price (the seamstress had to call her son on the phone and ask). Weird, frustrating experience. Would not go back.

Mae and Michael at the Clark location are awesome! I was 5 weeks pregnant when the bride had to place the order for our dresses, so I just went up a few sizes… Needless to say, it did not fit! This place altered this dress to look like it was made for me, and it doesn’t even have the «maternity» look! It looks like all the other bridesmaids! I HIGHLY recommend Sew Special– They are great!

I just had a really unpleasant experience with this place. Went there to have a dress taken in. The tall guy with blondish hair was really friendly and kept talking up their work as if my dress was going to look amazing. He quoted me $ 100, which is lot of money for a simple job but at that point I had already listened to the guy for a while, it was hot, and I was tired. Plus the guy’s mother seemed to know what she was doing. I paid them a $ 50 deposit and left my dress with them assuming that they would do a good job.
Big mistake. Went back today to pick up my dress and it was still way too big. The guy tried to charge me more than $ 100 just to make the dress fit (even though they had my measurements and the dress should have fit in the first place). I refused to pay more than he quoted me and then he completely turned on me. He put a scowl on and started talking to another customer about how much work he did on the dress (he said it took 3 hours). He kept talking about me like I wasn’t there and was condescending and rude. It was humiliating. After they took the dress in more (that took less than 20 minutes, hmm). I just paid for it and left as soon as I could. I came home and realized that the alterations look pretty sloppy.
If you go to this place:
1. Expect the same quality work as your dry cleaners. In fact, if your dry cleaner does good alternations, just take your stuff there.
2. Expect to pay way too much.
2. Expect to deal with the bipolar guy who is just trying to get more money from you.

Went here to have a sari top made for a wedding. My friend and I were recommended to this place by another bridesmaid (who interestingly enough is Indian and directed us here instead of to Devon St). We told the woman we had a deadline and were only in town one weekend prior to the wedding for the fitting and would subsequently need to pick up the outfits the weekend of the wedding. She assured us they would be ready for the fitting and then for the wedding. I kept asking how much it would cost and the woman somehow avoided the question and redirected the conversation another way, but did mention it would not be that much. We left the material for the tops with her.
A couple weeks later, when we returned for the fitting on the date we had told the woman, nothing was ready but she assured us everything would be ready for the wedding and they would fit fine since she took our measurements.
When we came back the weekend of the wedding, we were given a bill of almost $ 200! If anyone is familiar with what a sari top looks like, it is almost like a small tank w/​nice pattern, all of which was already done, she just need to cut it and sew it together (something which does NOT normally cost that much). It’s not as if we were asking her to sew the jewels on and make it all from scratch!
We refused to pay that and headed to Devon St., leaving our tops there. (Had she told us beforehand how much they would be when I asked, we would’ve gone somewhere else to start!) We were able to find premade tops for around $ 20 that matched our saris (thank goodness we kept that portion!) There were girls in the bridal party who paid the $ 200 and their tops fitted so poorly and looked awkward (w/​sleeves and chest areas too loose)…so much for measurements! I would NEVER go here to get anything altered or made — a total rip off! When the other girls saw our outfits and found out how much more they paid, they were pissed!
Overall, sketchy business with poor quality work.

This place rocks! The guy who runs the place, Martin, is the biggest sweetheart in the world. He plays awesome music and keeps the working vibe at the place awesome.
I’ve gotten alterations and dry cleaning done here. It’s not the cheapest place in the world, but the customer service behind it is top notch!

Like the previous posters– I love Martin. He was the only reason we kept going back (that and it’s a half block from our house), because the prices are off the charts high. They do an okay job, but I’m done way over spending for conveinence.

My experience with Sew Special is mixed at best. They did a good job on my dress, but were disorganized and unreliable.
I was told I could pick my dress up on a Tuesday, but when I went in to pick it up, it was not ready. They offered to deliver it and said it would be delivered the next day but it was not. When I called at the end of the day to see why it hadn’t been delivered, they said that it had been ready all day and would be delivered early the following day. When I called the following day at 3pm to see why it hadn’t been delivered, they said that I had told them I would come in to pick it up.
At that point, I lost it. I screamed at them for a long time on the phone and made it plain that I was VERY dissatisfied. The owner came on the phone and said he was getting in a car to deliver my dress himself and it would be there within the hour. Three hours later, he got there.
Disorganized and unreliable. I won’t be back and I will tell everyone I know not to go either.

I took two pairs of pants to the Lakeview location to be shortened. Big mistake. The stitching was fine, but one pair was still too long. I took it back and asked a guy who appeared to be the manager (he declined to give me his name) to make them right. He refused, unless I brought back the other pair of pants so he could «see whose fault it is.» I said this didn’t make sense to me and asked him to please make the pants right. He said he didn’t want to pay a seamstress more money to fix the pants and accused me of changing my mind about the length. I told him this was not good service. He became belligerent and I finally walked out.
There’s no reason to be treated this way in a city full of friendly and competent alternation shops. I have had particularly good service at Soon’s on Halsted. Although Mrs. Soon is a drycleaner as well, she is quick with alterations and will bend over backwards to make you happy.

I definitely recommend Sew Special. Alterations may be a bit more expensive than at my local dry cleaners, but the expertise justifies the price. With Mike and his staff, I trust that I am in good hands, and that they will not let me walk away without a perfectly fitted, flattering garment.
My most recent experience is with a little black dress. I have trouble finding sizes (bust vs. everything else). Though I did find an option or two, they were way out of my budget. Instead, Sew Special altered a dress I already had to match the picture I brought in. I converted a dress I no longer wear into something I am proud to wear often… for less than half of what I would have spent on a new dress plus alterations!
Another review mentioned attitude, but I have never had that experience. I find them honest and professional. I’ve even witnessed them suggesting ways a customer could save money… when it meant less business for them.
I have referred several friends to Sew Special… and everyone has been happy with them! I look forward to working with them again.

Seriously! I had pants that the hem had come out of — needed them re-​hemmed in the SAME SPOT. Does this seem hard? Well apparently harder than I thought. They took the liberty of LENGTHENING them 1.5 inches. So I brought them back and requested them to be brought back to the length they initially were. Well didn’t they go and SHORTEN them 1.5 inches now. SERIOUSLY?! The crease had been RIGHT WHERE IT NEEDED TO BE!!! I am DONE. I will eat the stupid $ 15 I spent and would be willing to pay 10 times that to have not dealt with this whole dumb situation to begin with!

MARTIN. He’s awesome. Not only does he have a great personality and soundtrack (Marley!), he’s extremely professional and has a keen eye for custom tailoring. Plus, he offered a two-​day turnaround on a rather tricky alteration and did an absolutely gorgeous job.
Sew Special has three locations (Lawrence, Clark and Belmont), but the Lawrence store is the only one I would highly recommend. I recently tried the Clark shop for a very simple job while Martin was on vacation. Needless to say I wasn’t thrilled when my dress wasn’t at that location past the pickup time, especially since I was taking it to an out of town event early the next morning. I also wasn’t given the option to pick it up at the store where it supposedly was. The manager very kindly dropped off the dress at my apartment, but only several hours before my flight — surely not worth the stress of picking out something new immediately before a wedding.

This place is awesome! I needed a dress altered for a wedding in a quick amount of time. When I went in, they quickly pinned the dress and helped me make descisions about what really needed to get done to make the dress look good while keeping my budget in mind.
When I went in for the fitting, I couldn’t believe it, the dress fit perfectly! I will definitely use them again!

I have recently had a brain child of a line of high end throw pillows, and having no experience in the textile and/​or design arenas, Sew Special has come to my rescue. After interviewing multiple candidates, Mike from SS was the only one to tell me what was missing from my designs and how to improve them to make them a longer lasting product.
I am still working with him on finalizing samples and pricing before going to production, but he has been nothing but helpful, patient, and a great resource throughout the entire process. Before Mike, I knew nothing about invisible zippers, fusing material, and different type of stitching! His prices were significantly higher than all of the other quotes I received, but I am a strong believer of getting what you pay for (none of them mentioned any of those three things, and there is a laundry list of other things they did not offer). And the samples speak for themselves– incredible workmanship, flawless seams, and a gorgeous outcome.
After having seen Mike’s work on my pillows, I would easily switch over from my current tailor for my clothing alterations as well. He offers perfection.

I went here to get a pair of pants taken in in the back where they were gapping. I think the actual tailor wasn’t there, so a woman had me try the pants on and made a couple chalk marks on them. When I came to pick them back up, they charged me a couple bucks more than what they quoted and when I wore them, it was still a little loose around the waist. Maybe if the actual tailor had been there it would have turned out differently.

I wouldn’t take my garments any place else to be altered, fixed, etc. This is the place to go if you want it done right. It isn’t cheap, but tailoring is an art, and it should be paid as such.