I had the same experience many others have had over the years, which is to say that I dropped my items off for a week just to find out that the woman hadn't even started working on my order when I came to pick them up. I was given two timeframes to come back and get them. The funniest thing is that on our second agreed upon find, she had me wait in the office while she worked on other orders that weren't even mine. As a matter of fact, she didn't even start working on my pants until 15 minutes after I showed up. What was the point of leaving my stuff for a week? What was the point of taking down my phone number if you never called to provide any updates? Zero stars if I could but I can't. - signed, someone bummed they wasted $30 here. read more

If you're looking for a wonderful tailor-look no further than Magic Alterations! Lilly and her team did an amazing job on an outdoor jacket/windbreaker that needed to be taken in. Attention to detail and ability to manage a somewhat complex adjustment was excellent. The team was super kind and the rates are reasonable. I look forward to working with this store again the next time I need to alter my clothing. read more

Lily made magic happen for me. I had a costume/dress custom made in Thailand that was made very poorly (even though I spent so much money for it) I was heartbroken that I may not be able to wear it to my event but Lily made the dress into two pieces a skirt and top and she fixed it. This was not an easy task by any means as she basically had to re-design it. She did it on four days for me and it was incredible. I felt beautiful and confident in the outfit after her talented touch. I will never get things altered anywhere else. She is so gifted in her craft and I am so grateful. read more

See all

Lily is a artisan seamstress! She is simply amazing and can fix, alter or mend almost any garment. I bought a piece of fur in Europe and wanted to add it to the trim of my coat. She somehow dissembled the hood and added it. It looks absolutely gorgeous! read more

Magic Alterations & Tailoring - Sewing & Alterations Near Me - San Francisco, California

See all

High quality alteration. Handled my pants very carefully. I recommend this place for any pants alterations. read more

Walked in with a backpack, broken strap. 10 minutes later, good as new. $10, worth every cent.

I had a broken zipper on my ski jacket and Lily replaced it! 4 day turnaround for a total zipper replacement. Good as new and has a cool contrasting color read more

Magic Alterations & Tailoring - Jacket with zipper repair - Sewing & Alterations Near Me - San Francisco, California

Great alterations and a lovely owner. May be a little pricey, but the tailoring is too notch. read more

Reasonable prices, reliable, quality work! Recommend calling before as the hours are different.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! She hemmed a three layered dress and let it out three inches in a week and I swear I still can't tell where she made the changes. This woman truly is magic!!! read more

Lily does a great job, is super nice and has tailored many articles of clothing for me over the years, from dress pants, dress shirts, even shortening sleeves on outerwear (jackets and coats). Her prices are completely fair, in my opinion. read more

Brought in a dress to get adjusted a week and a half ahead of the date I needed it on. On the day they've told me to come pick it up, I came and... they haven't even gotten started on my dress. A phone call to tell me that would've been appreciated. A finished alteration would've been even better. Thankfully there are other tailors in the neighborhood. read more

One of the worse customer centric places you could go to. I usually go to tailors to help recommend what fits the best and how a certain piece of clothing should fit. They did not have any recommendations or expert advice on whether the sleeves should be taken up or not. The prices are very expensive especially for the inner richmond area. The worse part was when I showed up at my designated time of pick-up they hadn't even started my suit. On top of that I had to uber back to work and come back later in the day and when I showed up the suit still didn't fit well (it feels like they didn't even tailor it). I ended up just wearing a different suit for the wedding and taking the suit to another tailor to get it fixed. On an additional note: unless you have a 'basic' dress that needs alteration, I highly discourage coming here. The only reason its not a 1 star is because they gave me a $20 refund for not having my suit ready at the time of the original pick up. read more

Lily is fantastic and a skilled seamstress. She can tailor and repair almost anything and is able to rush items for an additional fee, if needed. She has altered everything for us including formal gowns, dresses, pants and jeans (original jean hem). She can also repaired ripped jeans and worn arms on sweaters. I highly recommend Lily! read more

This is a review solely on their hemming of pants. I came here because the reviews on here seemed legit. I walked in and was greeted by two nice ladies that were willing to help with my questions. I asked how much for hemming jeans, 10 bucks. AWESOME! I proceeded. I then explained how I am looking for a consistent alterations place as my last one did me absolutely no justice (see my reviews). The ladies laughed politely and said we will do our best then asked if the following wednesday would work. I kindly asked if it could be done by the sunday (I brought them in on Wednesday) and she said absolutely! I come back to retrieve my items and am SO SATISFIED with the work they did. Truly happy I found this gem and will be using them more and more. read more

This is not really a fair business. I had to wait a whole week for an orginal hem - and by the time I picked it up they haven't even STARTED. So I had to come back in 30 minutes. I don't get how this "service" relates to the price which is higher than on other places near by. read more

I just picked up 5 nice shirts that I wanted to bring in a few inches. They were helpful and patient with me, which was nice, since I've never had any clothes tailored before. Of the 5 shirts, 4 came out terrific and one probably needs a somewhat unrelated alteration too (we brought in the waist, but after doing that it looks like we should shorten the tail). I don't feel as though that is their fault, so I'll happily be bringing that one in soon. They asked how soon I needed them, and I said not very, but was a little surprised when they said it'd be 10 days. Overall, great service and I will be going back to tailor most shirts I buy. read more

This is a fantastic local business. I got my wedding dress tailored here and the experience was phenomenal. The owners make you feel like family and I had full faith in leaving my wedding dress with them. The end result was exactly what I wanted for my wedding. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. I even recommended them to all my bridesmaids for their alterations. read more

I only ever get small things altered here. Usually hemming pants and other small things. They always do a god job with those for a fair price and they are usually pretty fast. Very convenient too since it's a block away from where I live! read more

I had pants lengthened here. She did a great job, and the turn around was fast.

If I could rate it "zero" I would gladly give it that. I never thought I would be so disappointed with a tailoring job after paying a whopping $120.... The pants were hemmed rather weirdly and now create an awkward crease around the hamstring area. As far as the suit jacket, where to begin. The tailoring job left an awkward twist around the right should that was never there before. The lady claimed it was not her. How is that possible when I never had a problem with the shoulders before!? I told her it was not acceptable and to please fix it. I came back a few days later and found not only the same issue on the shoulder was there, but she had now opened up the back to the point of creating a weird sag between my shoulder blades. This place is AWFUL! Do NOT go there or you will be deeply disappointed. I have never had such a terrible job with clothes being tailored. Especially after paying so much! It's completely insane! Please save your money, time, and heartburn. Pick a place that is professional and can actually communicate back to you. read more

Pretty lousy alteration on a dress I brought in. I had to take it somewhere else to fix it. Also $40 basically to hem and take in the waist and its cash only! Seriously, I have to pay taxes so I hope the businesses I give my money to would do the same! Also, she needed over a week to do almost nothing. read more

I've used them twice. The first time was over a year ago. I had an oversized sweater with very large and prominent buttons on it that was missing one button. I figured being a tailor, they probably have an assortment of matching buttons, so they could fix it for me. I took it in and asked them to replace the missing button along with removing ALL of the other buttons and replacing them too so they would match. I was very clear about this. They said fine, and took the sweater. A week later I came to pick it up and found that they had simply sewn on ONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT BUTTON where there was one missing. Who does that? Seriously who wears something with one odd button that doesn't match the others? I was appalled. If that's what I wanted I could have just sewn any random button on myself. I ended up having to go buy buttons and sew each one on myself, which I guess is what I should have done in the first place. When I got angry about it, they told me, "Sorry we didn't have this many buttons to replace them all." Which they SHOULD have told me before they did the work. I get that there must have been a language barrier, because they clearly did not understand what I wanted them to do with the sweater, but even so, why would they think it would be okay to put one random button on an item that did not match the others? Ridiculous. Fast forward to now. Last Friday I decided to give them another chance. I took in a dress with a tank style top and asked them to shorten the straps. This is an extremely simple job that any novice seamstress can do in 30 minutes. When they told me it would be $22 I thought that was pretty expensive for such a simple job, but for convenience sake since they are near my apartment I agreed. They told me it would be ready the following Friday by 2pm. Again I paused at that because of it being such a simple job, but I figured they must be backed up with orders, so I agreed. I came back at 1:05pm on Friday, which I know is a little less than one hour before the quoted time. But they have HAD THIS DRESS FOR SEVEN DAYS. FOR A THIRTY MINUTE FIX. I figured there's no way it wouldn't be done already. So I walk over to the shop, and there is a sign on the door that reads, "BE BACK IN FIVE MINUTES. IF I'M NOT BACK THEN, READ THIS SIGN AGAIN." Pretty annoying, but I was early anyway so I stood around outside for a bit before someone came to the door and let me inside. When I went in, I found that of course the dress was not finished. WHY HAS IT BEEN SITTING THERE FOR SEVEN DAYS IF THEY WEREN'T GOING TO START ON IT UNTIL LESS THAN ONE HOUR PRIOR TO WHEN IT IS DUE? I went back home and returned an hour later to pick up the dress. It actually is good work that they did (this time), but I'm annoyed at their lack of timeliness and I think $22 is overpriced for undoing two small seams, folding the fabric over, trimming the excess, and sewing it back. I will not be going back to this place. read more

Expensive and slow (10 days for basic work). Quality ok, but their prices are like what you'd pay in Union Square.

Review for jeans. Had a request to hem my jeans and to use the original hem. Thread color matched, length was perfect. The wait was about a week. In and out quick and easy. They did a great job. I would say it's a tad bit more expensive than I would've liked ($25 price may change), but it was tolerable. read more

This place is amazing. I needed to have a dress altered for a trip and I made a really stupid mistake of telling them the wrong date for pickup. When I came to pick up the dress (the day I was leaving for my trip) it was not ready because the date I mistakenly gave them was 2 weeks away (what was I thinking!?!?! ) The woman said she could have it done in a hour so I could still take it on my trip. REALLLY?!?!?! OMG THANK YOU!!! I felt so bad about the rush but she was so accommodating and nice about it! I will forever be going to this place now, but will make sure I give them the correct dates so this does not happen again. Even if it does, I know I can trust them for excellent service! read more

Decent alterations done for a decent price. Would I bring an expensive bridesmaid dress or anything like that? No. Would I bring pants to be hemmed and minor alterations again? Probably. I picked this place out of convenience and had two work pants hemmed and a dress altered that needed to be taken in a little. The pants were fine and she was working on my dress as I walked in to pick everything up. She didn't have me try it on when it was done which I thought was strange. The dress alterations were ok, there's a slight bump by the zipper but I'll get by with it. She definitely doesn't speak English so she didn't know what I was saying when talking about the dress. Ok place but maybe not for expensive alterations. read more

Needed a button sewed onto my jacket on a Sunday. They were opened, friendly, quick with good quality and cheap. So cheap, I paid them more to ease my conscience. Try them. read more

I've been here twice. The lady who works here doesn't speak much English, but enough to understand. The first time, I brought in two dresses. One dress needed to have a much shorter hem and the second needed to be taken in the waist. The seamstress did a great job on both. She even saved the scrap fabric to see if I wanted them (I did!). The second time I've been here, I brought in a complicated dress with shoulders too big and the zipper too long. Basically, she told me to get another dress because it would have been too expensive to take it apart, trim the zipper, and resew it all to fit me. Maybe it's because I looked like a broke student, but I appreciated her honesty and not trying to rip me off. I asked how much it would be but she insisted it was not worth paying $$$ for a dress that I got off a sale rack. Oh well. Maybe I'll learn how to alter that dress. read more

Clean and spacious, ample parking, great service. I brought 8 pairs of jeans for hemming and slimming - all done within a week and prices were very reasonable. I don't live in the neighborhood, but this place is worth the drive (and traffic down Geary). Definitely making this my go to place for all types of alterations in the future. read more

They did a great job with my work coat, sleeves were too long and she even took in the sides to make it not so bulky. Very nice and cash only. read more

Honest woman. Brought in many of my multi-pockets jackets for sewing repair. Everytime I am satisfied. Reasonable price and turnover. Will continue to patronize her good work! read more

I had an interview last Tuesday, and I got my two blazers in to them on Saturday near closing time and they still got it to me on time. I am a slim guy with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, so if I buy the X-Smalls with the European designers they fit too tight on the chest, but perfectly on the waist. As a result, I buy the blazers in the next size up, had a boxy ill fit on the waist, but fortunately, these lovely ladies are so good at what they do that the blazers are now perfectly costumed to my body type. They were a little pricey, charging me $100 for both pieces, but to be quite honest, their work was well worth it to me and I would come back to them again. read more

I brought my dress to alter the length. My dress is only 50$ and they are charging me 45$. Its been a week and they still did not work on my dress. I expressed how long it's taking and how pricey it is. The daughter told me to bring it to Chinatown if I want a better rate. She was rude and also said it was non negotiable. I have a wedding to attend and I dont have time to go to another alteration place. read more

Terrible customer service! I went in to get a dress altered for a wedding and they told me to come back a week later to pick it up. In my mind this was cutting it close because I was leaving the next day to fly to the wedding but agreed. I went to pick it up at the requested time and they had not even started on the dress. THEY HAD THE DRESS FOR A WEEK! Not only was it not ready but they only offered 10% off for not having it ready (the charge for the hem was already way more than I was hoping to pay). My flight was leaving the next afternoon so I had to stop at the tailor on my way to the airport and they finally had the dress ready. It is terrible customer service to not have items ready when you say you will. I will not be going back!! read more

I had a silk chiffon dress that was for a person several inches taller than I am. Now I have a silk chiffon dress that is for someone my height! It cost $20, which I think is pretty good considering how difficult silk chiffon is to work with and considering that I'd have ruined the dress just thinking about altering it myself. The woman who worked with me was very sweet and knew what I wanted just by looking at the dress on me -- I didn't have to say a word. Perfect! read more

I can't say enough good things about this woman at Magic Alterations. She's very fair, does good work, and always delivers on time. She's hemmed numerous slacks & jeans, altered a number of dresses, and has made 2 dresses for me. I'm always picking something up from her and recommend her highly!! read more

I've had suits, shirts, slacks, and jeans tailored here. Success every time, for the last six years. Customer for life!