Changing Wardrobes : Dress Alteration
This beautiful dress is a halter neck, with ruched panels and a high low skirt that starts low on the hips, and comes just above the knees at the highest point. My aunt had plans to wear this at the end of May, it was too long even with heels on.
So I got myself a rolled hem foot, and got her to try it on a couple of times before sewing this - to make sure its right:
- First time, i took measurements and roughly pinned the hem to test the length. She wanted it to the heel of her foot, which was just the length of the lining.
- The second time, I again took measurements, pinned more carefully and asked if there were other adjustments needed. the straps had been adjusted by the previous owner and were fine. As well as the rest of the fit. After this I pulled the skirt at the back, front, and sides to lift the skirt, not much, but just enough to fit the skirt a little higher. This meant I could trim the hem a little less. It also meant I didn't need to completely re-hem the front, only the sides and back.
- I fitted the dress a third time before hemming - as I hadn't cut the dress yet. I did adjust what I had pinned before. And pinned the lining as well now. This needed fitting on the sides first before the hem was adjusted to see that it fitted right with the adjustments I had already made. So there was quite a bit of switching between the dress being inside-out and the right way round.The hem was just longer than the dress.This is want it ended up looking like. I'm quite pleased. As was my aunt - she paired it with this lovely velvet jacket. There were some things I didn't want to alter - the straps as it could be quite hard to hid the details from the front of the dress, and the center front panel could have been adjusted but the fit was too nice to edit it for a small change. I know small changes can improve a fit a lot. But felt it wasn't worth the risk with this fabric.
The fabric is a synthetic like silk - high end polyester blend. This means it can easily be wrecked when sewing if care isn't taken and it can be quite slippy to sew with.
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