Hello everyone,
Recently I've been getting into sewing a lot more. My mum has always sewn and I've dabbled in the past, but I've discovered that I love to take items and change them up. My first project a few months ago was to take a floral dress which was too short, cut the top part off and sew it onto a maxi skirt I had to create a maxi dress, and I loved doing it. So, yesterday I tackled a new project.
A while ago I bought a vintage dress in the charity shop. It was a few sizes too big and definitely looked outdated and not my style, and I'd been wanting to do something with it for a while because I loved the fabric. Yesterday, I finally got a burst of determination and decided to take on the project and I am so happy with the results.
Before
After
It took me a couple of hours to get this result, but how I did it was fairly simple. My first step was to remove the sleeves and refinish the armholes and as soon as I did that, it made a huge difference. The next step was to get it to actually fit me. My mum helped me out by telling me the best way to take the dress in and then I got to sewing.
The armholes were huge on me, so it needed so drastic alteration and so I started by taking it in along the front and back seams. As I was doing this, a waistline started to appear and the more I worked, the more it tailored to me. Each time I took in a seam, I'd try it on again and see where I had to adjust.
After I'd taken in the two front seams and two back seams. I took it in at each side seam, tapering off at the waist so that I wouldn't lose the belt loops. It was still too big, so I took it in at the shoulder seams and then each side seam again by about an inch each. Once that was done, I tried it on again and this time it fit! I was so happy and I love the end result.
Originally I'd been planning on removing the collar and changing the buttons as I thought they made the dress look too old-fashioned for my taste. But, after taking it in and removing the sleeves, I found I loved the look with these items. So, I left them where they were and I now love the dress.
I'm excited to try more alterations soon.
