Dress Alterations: 1

Last week, I completed my first alteration job in a long while for my friend Christy and her daughter Avelyn. Christy's dress only needed to be slightly altered so I added a lace-up back and I will post photos from that dress soon.

This post is about Ava's dress that her Grandma made. It was well made but since they live in separate states and couldn't do any fittings, there were a few crucial alterations.

The most obvious difference is the middle- I had to detach the whole bottom half of the dress and add a sash for length which also meant removing the ruffle in the middle. 

For a little extra length and to make the sash look more intentional, I added about an inch and a half of the same pink fabric to the bottom as well. I think this touch made a big difference!

What the dress looked like before from all angles

The other changes that may not be as noticeable but were absolutely necessary for a better fit included widening the neck and arm holes and changing/adding closures on back. 

I was so happy when Aves tried the dress on the second time and immediately said, "This feels so much better!" about her arms and neck. Removing the existing stitches and (semi) invisibly re-sewing those parts was some of the most nerve-racking sewing I've done and I'm very glad it worked out.

This was an interesting job for two reasons. For one, I really enjoyed the amount of creative thinking and problem solving it took to do some of the changes and repairs. Amanda wants me to make it clear, however, that it was her idea to add the sash. Good job, Amanda. But that brings me to the second thing that made this job interesting... 

Another one of Amanda's ideas was to make a completely new top half. That was absolutely out of the question, not only because of how much work it would be, but because this was someone else's work. I had to respect what someone else had made and couldn't just tear it apart. Although the before and after do look quite different, I'm hoping the original seamstress was not upset by the work I did. I tried to find a way to stylishly and naturally refit the dress without making the alterations stand out.

Overall, I had a lot of fun working on this dress and couldn't have been happier when I had the whole thing finished and Ava was twirling back and forth in her new dress, obviously comfortable and happy.

The happy girl and little brother, Roald