I went to see Ali after a recommendation from a friend who called him "magical." I needed magical. I had a gown that came in from a bridal salon for a wedding that was in 3 weeks that was so big it was laughable. It didn't fit a single part of my body. There wasn't time to send it back to get a smaller size since it took 3 months to come in. Alterations were my only hope.
I called him before I came in to make sure that he did gowns and he was so sweet on the phone. He said "just come bring me the dress, honey. We'll see what we can do." I showed up in full blown panic mode because I knew this kind man had no idea how much work he had ahead of him or how much of a wreck I was.
So I get there, put the dress on and come out. He was more than shocked that this was a dress that I was measured for and was custom ordered. At this point, I think he was ready to tell me that he was sorry but he couldn't help... but I was close to tears and he knew it. So he decided to go for it.
Away he went with the pins. I calmed down as he was working because he was explaining what he was doing, why he was doing it and what kind of effect it would have on the dress after he did it. It was clear he had a vision for what needed to be done and he was a perfectionist. I should probably add that my dress is three different layers with the top layer being a sheer one with glitter designs that align in a specific pattern. This would have been a VERY easy dress to screw up.
I came back a week later and literally could not believe what he had done. He created a new dress. There were now (very necessary) seams that did not exist before. He admitted to spending over 5 hours on the first round of alterations and cutting 6-7 inches of the dress off in all areas. Still, he wanted to do more for me and pinned again (it was impossible to get it completely done in one shot since it was such a massive alteration) and told me to come back in a week.
Fast forward to today when I picked up my dress. Even today, he made a very slight alteration in the back (took 10 minutes) to keep the lining in one place. It was a minor detail that I wouldn't have noticed myself but it made a difference. This is just how much he cares about his work.
The alteration wasn't cheap but he only charged me the one time at the beginning and not for any of the subsequent alterations that came after. He was worth absolutely every penny that I paid to him. I will go back to him in a heartbeat for anything in the future.
I now have a dress that fits perfectly and looks like what a custom ordered dress SHOULD look like and he has a customer for life.