Tuesday, April 08, 2014

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.

6 comments:

cfort82 said...

Nice way to save your dress. The lace is a very nice touch.

Cindy - EOD
Upcycled Design Lab

Unknown said...

The lace changes the dress from elegant to pretty - really like that.

SimpleBirdie said...

I love how adding little details can change up the look and feel of something. Cute! I do refashions and DIY's on my blog too, have a look, it's simplebirdiecrafts.com.

Jazzy Jack said...

It's funny how wardrobes shrink clothes! Mine has a habit of doing that too! :-) love your dress save.

jennifer elliott said...

I love the lace inserts. Great job!

jenny_o said...

The lace makes all the difference; what a good idea.