Did not understand the instructions although I repeated it at least 4 times. The task was simple: cut several curtain panels to a specific number of inches. When I came to pick up the curtains she wanted to charge me triple the estimated amount. The job only required to cut and hem the curtains to a certain length, which was not done. Nothing was written down, seemed confused, and had a hard time understanding instructions in English. I will have to pay someone else to fix her work. read more

Ms. Lilly has been always amazing, the turn around time is insane. I was there today and got 3 pairs of jeans, 2 slacks and a tuxedo pants tapered and hemmed. I was finished in 1 1/2 hrs, not to include my mackage jacket needed tailoring to fit me. Lilly is so kind and reasonable, I have been a customer since 2009 and anything I need, I know Lilly will get it done. Just all around great and accurate service. read more

The lady who works at the shop was very nice and that's where the positives end. First off, it's extremely difficult to find the shop open, it took me 3 attempts to drop off the garment and 2 attempts to pick it up. When the doors are down, they have a note indicating the work hours; every single time that I found it closed, was during their supposed open hours so don't expect this to be a one trip type of thing. I mentioned to her how often I had been finding the place closed during what is supposed to be open hours and she did not seem to care at all, not even an apology for the inconvenience. The workmanship was very sloppy in my opinion, for the amount that was charged. I'm not super familiar with pricing but $25 to stitch up one section of a tie seems steep to me, but worse than that was the poor finishing stitching. It looks like I did it myself by hand and I'm not pleased with it. I'm not coming back here and don't recommend this place to anyone. Price is high and quality is very low. read more

Crystal Alterations & Formal Wear - The stitching just looks poorly finished. When I brought it up to her she said it's sturdy and that's all. - Sewing & Alterations Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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January 1st, 2022. Men's suits tailoring. Lily did amazing work for me. I brought in two suits. The first being the tuxedo I would be wearing for my wedding, the other being a white dinner jacket I planned to wear for the reception party after the ceremony. I couldn't be happier with how both turned out. I needed A LOT of work done to them both. The shoulders were off, the neck was rolled in the back collar area, the sleeves were about 2 inches too long on both. She turned a big oversized jacket into fitting like a glove. Both turned out better than I imagined possible. If you have an old suit that looks wonky or a new suit that just doesn't fit right, bring it into Lily and she'll make you look like a million bucks. Total for all the work done on both suits was $220. After drop off the suits were ready in 10 days. Great to work with, pleasant woman, quick turn around, as fair as any pricing. I will be taking in several pairs of slacks to turn into more modern (slim-ish) fit slacks. She quoted me at around $20-$30 per pair. read more

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Miss Lilly has been taking care of my alterations for years. She's prompt, professional and can do last minute alterations. I highly recommend her. read more

I really wanted to like this place. The lady who works there is so nice and patient, but man--are there a lot of mistakes. I spent over an hour there after my suits were done to fix things. After wearing them, I noticed that I would have to go back again. I may update this with a more positive review, but as of right now, I see $190 in tailoring costs for a sloppy effort on 3 suits. Based on the other low reviews, I probably would not trust this place for any big jobs on any clothing items above $100. They are still better than the Jos. A. Bank tailors. read more

Lily is the best!!! Seriously coming from the west coast and having to suit up every day and look like you own the place without spending a ridiculous amount of money is a tough thing to accomplish. But Lily is magical and professional and knows how to make a $100 suit look like it's custom made. I have really large shoulders and have spent so much on custom clothing, but buying off the rack and taking it to Lily has given me the same quality with more money left in my pocket. She is awesome!!!! read more

Lily is excellent. She has altered several dresses for me. She works with your timeframe. I send all my friends and family to her. Everyone is very pleased with quality of her work. read more

Very convenient, one of the few places that will do a last minute emergency alteration the same day. She knows how to do all the military uniforms correctly also. Went to get pants altered, she did them right there in front of me in 10 minutes during the holidays. Located right in the Crystal City underground, easy access to metro, and tons of free garage parking after 4 pm during the work week & on weekends. read more

Crystal Alterations & Formal Wear - Underground map - Sewing & Alterations Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

I had a go-to tailor that I always used in Great Falls, but he recently started jacking up his prices to the point that the trip out there wasn't worth it to me even though he always did great work. I moved to Arlington a few years ago so I wanted to find a good tailor in the area. I'm so glad I found this place! My boyfriend had gotten some pants hemmed here and she did a great job for a fair price, so I decided to try it out as well. I took a skirt with a lining to be taken in at the waist. I was able to get a quote before she did any work on it, and she was able to quickly fit me and send me on my way. It was ready in less than a week and I'm very happy with the quality of the work. Fair prices, great work, and very friendly owner! This will definitely be my new go-to tailor for any other pieces I need altered. read more

First, it's expensive compared to places I've been in New York. I got a bridesmaid dress hemmed and taken in at the shoulders. I know how much it costs to hem three layers and this was just one. Second, the front section (it's a floor length wrap dress) wound up crooked but I didn't have time to wait for her to redo it. I was told it would be completed a day before I left for an out of state wedding so there was no time to fix stuff. Hours are limited so hard to get to after work in DC. I would look elsewhere for subpar work read more

What a nightmare!!!!! I pick up my $400.00 dress for alterations and the lady, Lily ruin the dress. She reported it being difficult to size the dress down. I'm going to cry. A friend referred me to go there and didn't even meet my expectations. The seams were not stitched down. I'm distaughted and heartbroken. read more

Very affordable prices and excellent craft-woman-ship. The owner changed recently to the original owner, which I'm so happy for. The previous owner was rude and unpleasant. The current owner/tailorist Lily is so nice and helped me out a lot. I don't know what the other yelper is talking about, but Lily does not have a limit on credit card purchases. She must be mistaking this alteration shop for another one in Crystal City. I always go here for my work because I know it is dependable. read more

After getting a sense of everything we wanted and how we wanted to look, the sweet lady over-delivered on tailoring with our suit and wedding dress. We have the best fitting wear we've ever had. And she even took the time to take our clothes to the dry cleaners for us because we were unable to get back in time from vacay to take it ourselves. She's amazing, definitely has had a ton of experience with tailoring. She's awesome read more

I was very satisfied with the quality of work that the owner did on my new suit and some pants that I needed hemmed. I appreciated that she took the time to get things just right in terms of the fit. She also recommended only what I needed done on my clothes, and nothing more. The price was extremely reasonable - in the past I've paid much more for lower quality work. So all in all I am very glad I found this shop and I will return the next time I need expert tailoring! read more

Crystal Alterations is amazing. I ordered a dress for a wedding two sizes too big (it was the only one left). I took it to Lily a week before the wedding and she did an amazing job! It looks like an entirely new dress. It was a little pricey but it was a short turnaround and not a simple job. I had no idea how it was going to turn out but it was beautiful. I am so so happy and relieved I went to her. I highly recommend her to anyone! I drove from DC to go here specifically because of her reviews. It was complicated to find since I've never been to the crystal city shops underground before. I called Lily and described to her where I was and she told me where to go, great customer service! read more

Ol lady got some alterations done on her bridesmaid dress here . Took us forever to find a place that could do dresses . I didn't know that tuxedos could be rented . So, I saved a little by renting instead of buying. read more

After visiting numerous tailors in the NOVA area over the years, Crystal Alterations is my favorite. Yes it's a bit pricey, and they are creepily cash only, but paying the extra amount is worth it for me. The women who do the alterations are professional and thorough. I have brought some heavy duty jobs their way, like hemming and taking in over 2 inches in a formal satin bridesmaid dress, and they did a perfect job. Plus, as a first time customer, you get 20% off, so if you have been putting off getting numerous items altered, bring them in and get the discount! read more

Things really must have changed since the last review in 2010, as I wasn't sure whether to even give this place one star. The only positive I can think of is that they were affordable, but I guess you get what you pay for. I had a cotton sundress that I needed taken in and, not only was the dress still significantly too large after the fact, they messed it up so badly (one side taken in much more than another, shoulders and hem not adjusted at all, etc) I'm now paying $90 to have someone else correct their mistakes. Unfortunately, at the same time I also took some pants to be hemmed and not only were they uneven, but they used the wrong kind of stitch, and I probably could have done a better job myself. Even though this place is convenient for those that live/work in Crystal City, it's not worth it. Oh, and a minimum of $30 to use credit cards. read more

Great, quick and cheap service. The tailor even gave me feedback that my suit jacket didn't need tailoring and just altered my pants.

I had a very bad experience with the woman who does alternations at the Crystal Alterations & Formal Wear. She did a very unprofessional work, in addition to her rude attitude. I had a dress that needed to be professionally altered. I just bought the dress for nearly $500, while I was trying it on at home, I accidently ripped a small section under both arms of the dress. I wanted to have it professionally sawed, since I paid so much for it. When I went to pick up the dress, I was very upset with the bad workmanship of the woman. She sawed the holes, but left the entire stitching incomplete so that you could still see the ripped parts of the dress. She also used a thread that didn't match the color of the dress. When I brought this to her attention, she responded angrily, "well, that's why it's $8!" When I asked to speak to her manager about this matter, she started yelling at me even more and refused to give me the manager's phone number. I left the place, wishing I had never gone there at the first place. I would not take any clothes to be altered there, even if they offer to do it for free. Also, there is no 20% off discount for a first-time customer, as the previous reviewer has pointed out. read more

Took a bathing suit top to be shortened to Lily, and, as usual, she did a fantastic job. I was worried about the stretch stitch and that the outside would not look the same. No problem. It looks just like the store-bought hem, but shorter. read more

Miracle worker! I came to Lilly two days before my best friends wedding with a broken zipper and a dress that was to small. Lilly fixed the zipper was able to make the dress two inches bigger and look great all in less than 24 hours. I can not recommend her enough. read more

Crystal alternation formal wear is too good to fix your clothes in proper time n price....I used to work in crystal city n have fix my uniform here they do perfect job ...they are too good ....highly recommended... read more

Awesome place! Quick and easy. Thank you for accommodating our lateness. Perfect measurements, great prices. A++++++!!!:)

Terrific (last minute) service at a great price. My husband needed a tuxedo for an event that was due to start in 3 hrs. The concierge at the Ritz had recommended Crystal Alterations and Formal Wear. Boy, are we glad he did! read more