Customising clothes to fit

I’m going to a ‘do’ in a few weeks and I need a dress, I don’t get the opportunity to wear dresses very often so I had a look in the sales and found one I liked. But when it arrived although I loved the linen fabric, and how well the dress was made, (it has french seams and well made pockets) the A line style was not how it looked on the internet and it wasn’t very flattering either.
So the old sewing machine came out, and after some alterations I have a dress I’m happy with.
Fitting it was a bit of a challenge as I didn’t have anyone here to help, so I put it on inside out and pinned down the sides as best I could, then when I took it off I adjusted it so both sides were the same.
The dress has a side zip, just to make things complicated, I thought about removing the zip and just pulling the dress on but decided if I wanted the dress more fitted this wasn’t a good idea, I got stuck getting it off after tacking the sides.
Here’s some step by step photos of the alterations

I unpicked the zip leaving the top stitched in place as I wasn’t going to alter the bodice just the skirt

Then I trimmed off the excess fabric, this is the point of no return

Then pressed the seam open ready for the zip.

Then tacked the zip in place

I zig zaged the edges before sewing the side seams

Then stitched the zip in place

And here is the finished dress, a wearable bargain after a little bit of effort.

Advertisements