Positive Alterations Review: Truly Darling Shopping Service & Alterations

[octavekitten]

When the University OP was re released I finally had my chance to obtain it. It was a dream piece of mine, however I knew that the high waist cut of recent Angelic Pretty stuff is just a bit too high waisted, and this was no exception. Anticipating this, I also purchased a skirt in the same color way to have extra fabric for potential alterations. Absurd? Maybe, but I wanted my dream dress to fit properly.

When I received the University OP the high waist line actually fell across my nipple region. Hilarious and sad. I needed the waist dropped about two inches, as you can see from this photo:



I also felt the shoulders to be quite snug, and was hoping that could be fixed. After looking through the alterations album on the Truly Darling Facebook page, I decided to contact them about making my dress work better for me. They got back to me immediately, and I received a form to fill out which asked for lolibrary links, details about what I wanted done to the dress, and my measurements. I added a lot of information to the request including a lot of photos to make it easier to understand what I wanted, though that was not required.

Alteration Form Questions:
Name:
Adress: 

Name of dress:
Does it have full, quarter, or half shirring?
Specify what kind of alteration you'd like done:
If it's a bust alteration:
Would you like the waist ties to be used, or similar colored fabric from the store?
What is the width of the waist ties at the widest point?
Bust:
Waist:
Method of delivery: (Shipped, pick up at con, pick up at meetup)

In the end, what I requested was adding an inch to the shoulders, and dropping the waist line two inches. The strategy was to use the fabric from the skirt to remake the bodice entirely to the larger measurement requirements. I was kept updated along the way with progress photos which was nice.



Before she sent the dress back, I received these images of how it had changed:

The shoulders were initially 13 inches, and she added an additional inch when she remade the bodice panels. Now I can lift my arms up easily ;)


The original bodice length was 11 inches, it is now just over 13 inches, perfect!


Here is what the inside looks like:




The final product:





Pricing:
I initially paid a $30 deposit to book the alteration spot since she can get very busy with alterations and you must reserve a spot. It seemed like a monumental task to me, but when the dress came back it was flawless. It fits perfectly. The total cost of alterations came out to just over $200 including shipping. Pricey, probably for some, but I wanted this to fit me perfectly and it does. Essentially she had to remake the dress though, so the cost of labor was justifiable to me. I can only imagine how difficult it was to do.

Score:
Communication: 5/5, I was kept updated every step of the way. From text updates to photo updates, I knew what was going on which I really appreciate.

Craftsmanship: 5/5, You can't even tell that the dress was altered. From inside or out. It's just amazing.

Timing: 5/5, She was done with the item super fast. From the day she received the dress to when I got it back was less than 2 weeks time. Super fast turnaround for how much work was involved.

Overall I would really recommend the alteration services because now my dress fits absolutely perfect and looks absolutely like it did when AP shipped it to me. I was sent back the remaining fabric from the skirt-- they offer to make accessories with extra fabric for a small fee but I didn't need any of those things so I did not request them.

If you would like to contact them here is their info:

Email: trulydarlingboutiquess@gmail.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TrulyDarlingBoutique

I will post a worn photo in daily_lolita when I wear it so that you can see it on :) I'm in the midst of a heavy work schedule and traveling a lot so I have not had time to properly coordinate it and snap a pic. **Pardon the photo quality if they aren't detailed enough, I tried to represent this the best I could. If you would like to see any more images please let me know and I will take some for you**