Altering Dresses

For the past year, I've been hoarding dresses. I'm not really sure what started the craze, but I do know I wore a lot of dresses to stay cool in New York over the summer. I am now the proud owner of too many dresses. Several have been unwearable because they were in need of simple alterations. Before I moved to the Big Apple, I made sure I got all the alterations done.

Dress #1 - I picked up this bright (practically day-glo in these pictures) striped number from J. Crew Factory for around $30. It felt like such a steal. However, it was a little too big around the chest and upper arms.

Before:

 

After:

It's hard to see the difference in the pictures, but trust me - the dress fit a lot better after I took it in. As you can see when the dress is inside-out, I modified most of the arm, through the armpit, and down to the waist, and the edge is finished with a serger. Yes, I should've used gray thread, but I didn't want to buy four spools of thread just for this dress.

Dress #2 - This dress was free! I received a birthday gift card from Banana Republic, and it was more than enough to cover the cost of this dress. The dress fit great around my lower body, but it was unnecessarily baggy on top. That may explain why this dress was on final sale... plus an additional discount.

Before:

After:

Nothing easier than sewing a straight line! The great thing about using a serger is it trims off excess fabric as it sews, so you end up with clean, professional-looking edges.

Dress #3 - I am a lover of all things Marc Jacobs. Sadly, I'm too petite, so the smallest sizes have always been too big on me... until I laid eyes on this pretty yellow silk Marc by Marc Jacobs dress. The drawstring definitely helped make the dress fit better, but the length was still too long. I also didn't realize this until I got home, but there were dirt streaks on the bottom of the dress.

Before:

After:

The silk layer along with the polyester lining underneath were very slippery, but I found that if I just left less space between pins, I didn't encounter any problems while I was sewing. This made for a positive first experience sewing silk. I am no longer intimidated!

Now I can't wait for the weather to warm up, so I can wear my three 'new' dresses. Happy Friday!