Dress expansion

I bought this dress in a sale many years ago. It was maxi length, made of linen/silk, and I wore it on a couple of holidays, felt very glamorous. Anyway, during the time it spent at the back of the wardrobe, it shrank (!!)

I opened the side seams in an effort to make it wider, but had to admit defeat and back it went again.
Eventually I decided to cut some of the length off to make inserts for the sides, but that didn't work either.
Finally, I decided on a lace insert, as I have done successfully on a previous refashion.

So, this is the sorry dress with the seams open  and the bottom chopped.

I cut a strip of lace, backed it with a strip of the dress fabric from the hem offcut, and inserted it down the sides. Then it looked like this.

Close up of the lace insert.

Still need to finish the hem, but the dress is a lovely fit now, and quite fashionable.