Isabel Donnelly Bridal Alterations

Right after I purchased my wedding gown, I began the tireless search for a seamstress who would not only make my gown gorgeous, but who would treat my dress like it was her own. I did not trust the seamstress where I purchased my dress (I bought it from Alfred Angelo in Springfield, VA; when I first met their seamstress she reeked of cigarette smoke... I could smell her from across the store. I immediately thought, "NO FREAKING WAY.") So after much searching and reading countless reviews, I found Isabel's services. She is AMAZING! She works from her studio in her house. The studio is bright, clean, well-organized, and has a separate area for storing the dresses. Isabel keeps the dresses (hanging a good 3 feet off the floor) in an area that does not contain ANY water pipes to make sure dresses are never damaged. She also turns off the water anytime the house is left unattended and makes sure a family member checks on the house if she is away for an extended period of time (i.e. vacations). There is also a private changing room in her studio. After hearing this and meeting her, I knew I was going to leave my dress in the best hands. As a seamstress, Isabel is the BEST! My dress had a lot of bead work on the train and she created the most beautiful bustle that showed off the design. She was very flexible with appointments and very accommodating. She makes you feel like you are the only bride whose gown she is altering. She makes great suggestions, but is very good about listening to what brides want their dress to look like. She has lots of pictures of her work around her studio; all of the gowns turned out beautifully! If you are searching for a bargain on alterations, this is not for you. Isabel's pricing is moderate and reasonable. Think about it, would you want a seamstress who is cheap, but who might do a less than stellar job, or worse, could irreversibly damage your gown? With Isabel, you are getting EXACTLY what you are paying for: putting your special gown in the hands of a professional who is going to put 100% of her time and effort into your gown. The quality of her work is impeccable. I personally had to go in for 4 fittings and every time, Isabel had my dress ready for me on time. I also had her press my gown before my wedding, and it turned out lovely. To all the brides-to-be, congratulations! If you choose Isabel as your seamstress, you will be in good hands.

Isabel was an absolute PLEASURE to work with! She is not cheap but was worth every penny! I am so happy that I found her!! I felt like she truly enjoyed working on my dress and she completely put me at ease. Isabel also added beads to the flowers and made it one of a kind! I panicked when I realized there was a funny smell on my dress from being shipped to the US, but Isabel took the time to make and hang bags of baking soda around the dress and made sure that the smell was gone before the wedding. I got so many compliments on my wedding dress and everyone loved the added touches on the flowers! I would recommend Isabel to EVERYONE!

Don't go to anyone else- Isabel is the best!

FANTASTIC!! my dress was 4 sizes too big and she made it FIT ME LIKE A GLOVE. the dress was a complicated task, as it was a mermaid fit, satin with lace overlay and lace appliques. she hand sewed the lace appliques back together and had to take it in to my exact measurements. I didn't think I could look as amazing as I did, thanks to Isabel!! She was a pleasure to work with- so sweet and helpful! I would NEVER go to ANYONE else! :)

I had a dress handmade and when it was sent to me the quality on the skirt was horrible and not what I asked for. Isabel was wonderful to work with and my final dress product was beautiful! Make sure to make your appointment far ahead of time and she'll block off enough time for you.

Isabel Donnelly is the best! I looked forward to my dress fittings because she not only made me feel so beautiful as she transformed my dress, but she is so sweet and fun to talk with. She is such a talented seamstress, I trusted her to make my dress perfect--and she did! She is worth every penny, and I think when completing alterations, you get what you pay for. We highly recommend Isabel Donnelly to all brides!

Isabel was a dream to work with. I was a little hesitant at first, because I knew it was going to be pretty expensive, but after reading horror story reviews about the local david's bridal alterations department, I stumbled upon reviews about Isabel. It's no coincidence that she has so many reviews and still has a 5 star rating. She's just amazing to work with, and she does amazing work. I thought I liked my dress... but by the time she'd finished it, I loved it more than I thought possible. I'm not exactly a confident person, but I felt like I looked stunning,and I owe that all to Isabel. Go to her, she's worth every cent = )

AMAZING!! When I fell in love with a Jim Hjelm dress that was FAR out of my budget I was so happy to find someone in Colorado that would sell me the bridal sample gown from her store for 1/4 of the price. I quickly bought the gown, however when it arrived it was a size 12 (probably a street size 8-10), and I am a street size 2-4. To make things more complicated, the entire top of the gown was complicated delicate lace, and it was a trumpet fit--so it was supposed to be TIGHT! I was very nervous about setting up alterations, as I HAD to wear this dress--I didn't have room in my budget to buy another dress!! When I came for my first fitting, Isabel didn't even bat an eyelash at the amount of work I KNEW was going to need to be done with my gown. She simply began pinning and saying "this we can cut and line up with this here, and this can go there" etc.... I was blown away by her take charge attitude, and left feeling so confident. It is no exaggeration to say that Isabel COMPLETELY REMADE MY GOWN. The gown was breath taking, fit perfectly, and I received SO many compliments on the intricate details of the lace work. Isabel made my dream dress come true for me, and there is no way I could have worn the dress without her skill and work. I would most DEFINITELY recommend Isabel for ANY type of alterations, and I know I will be using her for everything as long as I am in the area!! Feel free to email me for pictures of the dress! mandastar2003@yahoo.com

LOVE LOVE LOVE Isabel! She is such a sweetie and did an AMAZING job on my wedding gown. It was a big job. She essentially rebuilt my dress to fit my body, repaired some beading and details, as well hemmed my lace overlay along with all the dress layers underneath. I couldn't believe how good it looked in the end! Her prices are a bit high, but she's worth every penney. I don't know anyone else that can alter like she does. I bought my dress in PA, then had Isabel do the alterations. She's way better then the alterations departments in any bridal store. Plus she's very responsive. She's such a perfectionist with her alterations that you don't have to worry about her giving you anything that's sub par. You only get one time to wear a wedding dress, so it's worth investing in someone that you trust and who can make you look stellar in your dress.

Isabel helped to make my wedding dress look beautiful! I was very scared when I first bought my dress because I purchased it as a sample. I loved the dress itself but the fit was not right at all. Originally I had my first appointment with Isabel scheduled in December 2010 but I was so upset over the fit of the dress I wanted to bring it to her sooner to be sure she could make the necessary alterations (if not it was back to the drawing board...) I called Isabel and she was able to fit me in towards the end of October. I felt better already! When I went in for my first appointment Isabel helped to show me that the fit of the dress was all wrong but it could be fixed. She took her time with me and looked over every part of the dress to be sure there were no problems that she was missing. The cost for her services was more than I would have liked to spend but she was well worth every penny! Isabel also altered my mother-in-law's dress and it looked great as well after Isabel worked her magic.

Isabel was amazing! She altered my wedding gown, my mother's dress, my mother-in-law's dress, and one of my bridesmaid's dress. In addition to being just as sweet and easy to work with as anyone could want, she is so talented and creative. She found a way to address any little thing that either she, my mother, or myself didn't find perfect. I think her standards were even higher than ours!

I love Isabel! She altered my wedding dress, which was not an easy task. I bought my dress off the rack as a sample, and it was 3 dress sizes too big. It was a body skimming mermaid cut dress with lots of extra material on the bottom because of the bigger size. She altered it perfectly and by the third fitting (she allowed me to keep coming back after losing weight) the dress fit like a glove. She also repaired my mothers veil by hand and altered all five of my bridesmaid dresses in a shortperiod of time. She is very flexible and accomodating. I highly recommend her!

Isabel is a bridal gown artist! She is truly gifted. It made me feel so comfortable knowing that Isabel was more concerned about having my gown perfect than I was. She takes great pride in her artistic ability to visualize how best to alter the gown for the bride. Who knew there were so many different ways to bustle a gown? My dance instructor even told me to make sure my bustle didn't come apart during my first dance number with my husband. My instructor said he had witnessed about half of the ladies having to fix their bustles with safety pins. When I told Isabel about my instructor's apprehension, she replied, "Tell him that I have never had a bustle fall apart." Whew, I felt rellieved. She was right. After twirling and dancing, the dress was perfectly aligned and remained intact. Isabel is fantastic!

I had the chance of using Ms. Isabel after Alfred Angelo ordered the wrong size gown for me. When I first brought her my gown, it was huge. After she worked her magic it fit perfectly. She is a really sweet lady with reasonable prices. I wouldn't trust anyone else with my dress except for her. I called months before my wedding to make sure she wouldn't be booked and I'm glad I did. She was able to fit me in and if I would have waited any longer she would have been booked. She took 2 inches off each side of my gown, made it shorter since I'm so short, added boning to make it stay up, added a bustle for my train, and steamed it. She is wonderful!

Isabel is a dream come true. I thought my dress looked great on me until Isabal got ahold of it, and good greif she made me look like a supermodel! She's always open to your opinions, but believe me, listen to her and you won't regret it. She is so funny and sweet, you feel so at ease with her; no rushing around and rude people like some places (ahem, Columbia Bridal Boutique, ahem). I plan on going back to her for ALL my alterations of dresses for any occasion from here on out! Thanks so much Isabel!

I am going to try to keep this short and sweet, but believe me when I say I could write a book about Isabel and her sweetness and her incredible talent! My wedding dress was a complicated, delicate, lace ensemble that was approx. 2 sizes too big! She made the dress fit me like a glove and at a reasonable price. She is unbelievably sweet and has such a reassuring personality..the second you walk into her "studio" (in her home's basement) you feel comfortable. I had extensive work done to my dress and you couldn't tell at all that she had to take the dress in about 4 inches around the waist, bust and hem. Absolutely flawless job! I should also mention that the night before we had to leave for our wedding weekend, my sister's zipper broke on her dress at 8PM. I called Isabel almost in tears simply hoping that she might at least know of someone who could help. She immediately told me not to worry and to come right over. We took the dress over, she looked at it and told us to come back in 2 hours (10PM!) and she would have it finished. She actually finished installing a whole new zipper within an hour and a half and it looked perfect. You would never know it wasn't the same zipper the dress came with. LOVE LOVE LOVE Isabel. You can trust her to be honest with you, to help you in a pinch and just generally make the fitting process pleasant.

My mom wanted me to use the alterations department at the place where we bought my dress. Due to its location and complaints I heard from other brides, I decided to find someone else and it couldn't have worked out better. Isabel shortened all of the layers of tulle under my skirt and shortened the lace and beaded skirt. She also slimmed the hips which was one of my biggest concerns because of the rouching. After the first fitting, she made my dress fit perfectly. The dress was exactly the right length. I scheduled my first fitting just 6 weeks prior to the wedding but Isabel managed to squeeze 3 fittings in with a week to spare before my wedding. I would recommend her to anyone looking for dress alterations without any headaches.

Isabel is a miracle worker!!! After taking my dress and running from the bridal boutique that I bought it, I found Isabel's name on the internet- after reading all her glowing reviews, I knew I needed to call her. Isabel turned my beautiful dress into the PERFECT dress for me- it fit like a glove when she was done with it! She is an absolute GEM to work with, fun loving, knowledgable, gracious, and amazing quality for the cost. I will use Isabel for years to come and recommend her hands down to any bride looking for a fun and stress-free alterations experience!

Isabel not only altered my dress but the dress I wore for my bridal shower. She was diligent and did an amazing job making sure that we maximized the beauty of both dresses. It took several fittings but she was determined to make everything perfect. I will continue to use her for all my alteration needs. I also purchased my veil from her, which was exactly what I wanted.

I had lost some weight since buying my dress and it needed quite a few alterations. After reading some not so great reviews of the alterations department where I bought my dress, I decided to get the alterations done somewhere else. Isabel did a PHENOMENAL job, I was so happy with the result. She made my 3K Jim Helm dress fit like a dream. It had to be taken in on the sides (twice!) and under the bust area, cups added, straps adjusted, boning taken out and added elsewhere, the skirt slimmed down from an a-line to more of a fit to flare, detachable lace on the hem removed and hand sewn on, 2 bustles, and a lot more. Her pricing is comparable, and it was totally worth it. My husband cried when I walked down the aisle, thank you Isabel!