Cost to hem formal dress

[Anonymous]

Curious if anyone has gotten a formal dressed hemmed recently and what it cost.

I bought a dress for $500 for an upcoming black tie wedding and have gone to two different dry cleaners that were recommended and one quoted $150 and one quoted $120.

It’s a chiffon material and just one layer that needs to be hemmed. Is this a normal price? Seems crazy to me.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know but it doesn’t sound crazy.

[Anonymous]

Chiffon is annoying and if there's a lot of it (is it a circle, full volume skirt?), then it takes some time to hem. So it's what I would expect, frankly. I've got a dress that needs shortening but I've put off getting it hemmed because there are two layers of circle fabric - in my case, cotton, which is easier to work with, but the time involved will drive up the price.

[Anonymous]

I got a dress that was lined and was quoted $400. I thought that was insane so I took it to a different place. It ended up costing $30, which is much more reasonable. Fast forward a few years, during the pandemic I learned how to do this on my own. If you have a sewing machine it is remarkably easy and quick. Just youtube it.

[Anonymous]

Last time I needed a dress hemmed, two different places in DTSS quoted me $100. It was a basic chiffon dress with a lining.

[Anonymous]

Sounds right. Chiffon isn't as easy as some other fabrics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got a dress that was lined and was quoted $400. I thought that was insane so I took it to a different place. It ended up costing $30, which is much more reasonable. Fast forward a few years, during the pandemic I learned how to do this on my own. If you have a sewing machine it is remarkably easy and quick. Just youtube it.

OP probably doesn't want to start with a formal chiffon dress.

[Anonymous]

I sew. I will try to explain. Chiffon requires a rolled hem. This is different from the hem on cotton pants or skirts. Rolled hems can sometimes be down with a special foot but it will not work with all chiffon types. If the foot can’t be used, then the entire hem must be sewn once all the way around, then pressed, then trimmed (very tedious) then sewn all the way around again. It is time consuming. $120 is reasonable for something that could take as much time as 3-4 normal hems.

[Anonymous]

+1 to 18:46. Chiffon is fussy and will look like crap if someone doesn’t do the right kind of hem. My vote is to take anything >$100.