Magic Needle

Wouldn’t take my clothes, told my to find my own tailor. After I said I’ve brought her my own clothes and given her a lot of business she said I don’t recognize you or need any business.

It goes without saying that Zoya is a good tailor. Everything I’ve taken to her has turned out the way I wanted it to. However, her attitude is the reason I can only give her 3 stars.
There have been many times she has told me to come on a certain day to pick up my alterations, and when I arrive on that day the clothes aren’t ready. On top of that, she yells at the top of her lungs that she is alone and doesn’t have time to do everything and that I should just go to someone else. Maybe I should take her advise!
Overall, she does a good job. She just needs to work on time management and an attitude adjustment!

I am writing this review on behalf of my mom. She loves her work and has always been taken care of. Her prices are also very reasonable given the quality of the finish. Highly recommended.

I’ve been going to Zoya for at least five years, but I finally had to find a different tailor (Kim’s Tailor just about a block south on Westwood — they’re great!) for several reasons:
1) Her attitude, as other reviewers have also noted, is terrible. She acts like my bringing in clothes for her alter is a major inconvenience. I feel bad that she seems to operate in a state of constant stress, but I don’t particularly appreciate my presence being treated like an affront.
2) She has very set views about how clothes should be altered, and will bully you into agreeing with her. I ended up getting a dress re-​altered somewhere else after I had taken it to her. Is part of this my fault for not standing up to her? Probably. But she will really not listen to you.
3) She takes forever to alter clothes — she always keeps pushing back the pickup date — and will blatantly tell you that she is prioritizing other rush orders over yours (at least, she has done this to me multiple times).
While Zoya does a fine job and her prices are reasonable, I just couldn’t deal with her attitude and lateness any more.

It is a bit suspicious when reviewers of businesses are reviewed in turn by other reviewers! I have heard that sometimes businesses reviewed unfavorably write their own reviews or get friends to write them. What else would be the reason for reviewing the reviewer?
I wrote the truth about what happened to me at Magic Needle and the only thing that says about me is that I care that others not be subject to a tirade and bad workmanship. I like Unilocal. I read what others say about a business, good and bad, and I am grateful for these reviews.
I am absolutely sure that sometimes, when Zoya is in a good mood, she does good work; but that was not my experience nor the experience of at least two others.

Zoya is a lovely lady. She is honest, forthright and will tell you if the outfit you chose is not right for you. For all those with negative reviews — I have one thing to say: Ladies, do you want someone to be honest with you — and tell you if the outfit is wrong? Or do you just want someone who tells you what you want to hear? Zoya has even told me to return an outfit — and she was right. No amount of tailoring would have made it look good on my body.
Zoya has re-​made skirts for me, done magical things with clothing and understands that a woman always looks better in a garment tailored to her body. Ladies, let’s not forget that no matter how hard we all try, our bodies change — and we often need to re-​tailor the pants or skirt more than once in the life of the garment.
Lastly — tailoring is not a precise calculation. On a couple of occasions, adjustments had to be made. Zoya was happy to do the correction, no argument.

I took two blouses in to have the sleeves shortened. After I paid for the work and took them home I noticed that one blouse had sleeves that were now a bit too short and the other hadn’t been touched and was still 3 inches too long. Both blouses reeked of perfume (which I do not wear). When I called to tell Zoya, she started screaming at me and talking over me (this, without even seeing the work done/​not done). I decided to eat the 30 dollars rather than try to remedy the situation as it’s difficult to solve a problem without cooperation or civility from the source.

I have been going to Zoya for over 10 years and have heard of her temper from others before, but never believed it. The last few jeans I have taken to her, I had to go back for her to redo because it’s still too long. This past time she hemmed my jeans, one leg pant was longer then the other. She argued with me that it’s IMPOSSIBLE for her to make that mistake and it must be a defective jean. When I asked her to shorten them she SNAPPED! Saying I ALWAYS cause her problems and that she has been there for 30 years and doesn’t want my business. Her work the last few times has not been what it use to be, and her temper is frankly scary. She gets red in the face and doesn’t stop shouting. I actually left in tears.
She charges $ 10 to hem jeans, when there are others in this neighborhood who change for the same work done right the first time for $ 6. I will no longer be going there (as she wishes.)

she is reasonable… and her work is good… but her attitude is TERRIBLE! Forget about her bad bedside manner but I took a pair of jeans there and asked for original hem (the had a cuff). When I went to pick them up, she had hemmed them with a regular jean hem (cuff was gone). I told her (nicely because quite frankly I’m scared of her attitude) and she barked back that it was ugly that way and this was nicer. I lost my cool at that point and said «either way, that is not what I asked for!» She gave me a $ 5 discount. Utterly ridiculous! Had that been my business and my mistake, not only I would have given them to the customer for free, I would also have offered to pay for the jeans. Today I went back to have a skirt hemmed and she rudely told me she is not taking anything in bc she is going on vacation and is backed up for 3 months. I asked if she could recommend anyone else and she told me there are «100 tailors on the block. GO PICK ONE». I will NEVER go back to her.

this place is CHEAP for big jobs (not so much just for a hem or something small). the main gal won’t spare you her opinions and quips but it is reasonable and the quality is very good. i had a complicated, layered gown requiring several fittings — the whole thing cost about $ 60. other places were minimum $ 300 — no joke. great for wedding gear. wouldn’t recommend for «regular» jobs. she isn’t fast and isn’t always friendly.