I don't often write reviews, but my experience with Karen was unfortunately so poor that I felt the need to warn others in need of a seamstress. Some of my concerns were:
- Karen's dog is usually in the shop and would get on my clothing or open the door while I was changing. There was a noticeable odor when I went to the shop.
- There was no privacy in the fitting room, and when I asked to have the blinds closed, Karen's response was "No one walks by there. You're fine." I closed them myself for my own privacy.
Karen worked on my wedding dress, and each fitting was at least an hour. Majority of the time was spent with her talking, and I felt that I had to interrupt to get a word in, including asking for what alterations I wanted with my dress.
Her texts were incredibly demeaning, passive aggressive, and confusing. When I asked if we could talk on the phone to clear up the confusion, and she refused to have a phone call. Multiple times when I asked for changes to be made, she got very upset. When I asked about scheduling my next fitting, I was told that I was "managing" and that she did not work on my time table, which was difficult to hear considering I needed my dress in time for my wedding day.
My fiancé took his pants in to have them hemmed, and she had my wedding dress hanging up and showed it to him, which was a disappointment because we had hoped to keep it a surprise for the wedding day. When he mentioned this to her, Karen told him to keep the secret and not tell me.
During one fitting, she accidentally poked me with pins multiple times while talking with her hands, and when I asked her to stop, she became upset and abruptly ended the fitting.
At the beginning of my time with her, I recommended her business to my friends because of her quick turnaround time, but after 3 friends and family members had a fitting with her, they told me their concerns about the disorganization (items everywhere, stains on the rug in the fitting room, etc.) of her shop, as well as the frustration of feeling that their time was wasted because Karen talked so much, elongating the fittings far past the amount of time they needed to be.
When I went in to get the dress (unfinished, as I did not trust her to finish the dress considering she mentioned multiple alterations I had never asked for), she verbally harassed me while I was paying and hit her fist on the desk. I really try to support local businesses, but this was a very bad experience, and I would caution anyone against taking their items to Karen.
