Simple Alterations for a Dress with a Gathered Skirt - Red Lace Dress

Remember when I made this Dolce and Gabbana inspired red lace dress? Well, ever since then, I try to be on the lookout for lace dresses. I got the one below from Goodwill for a dollar!! (Can you believe it???) It's obviously too big, so this blog is about how to do simple alterations to a dress with a gathered skirt.

First step is getting rid of those horrid armhole ruffles! They were actually sewn right in between the top layer and interfacing, so I simply cut them off, cutting really closely to the seam without snipping the important layers.

As you can tell from the picture above, the dress is just too wide for me, and the skirt is a tad long, making the dress look frumpy. 

There are several ways to go about altering a dress like this one. You could cut it apart and dart it and reattach the skirt. You could sew a seam from the arm hole to the bottom hem on both sides. I chose the method below because this dress has two layers to every part (lace over top a layer of white).

The first step in alteration was to sew a basting stitch about two fingers down from the waistband onto the skirt. This was primarily to keep the two layers together, but would also help me re-gather the skirt later when I reattached it.

A close-up.

In case it was too hard to tell from the pictures above, you can see the line I stitched onto the skirt here. (I'm pointing at it.)

The next thing I did was to cut right in between the waistband and the basting line I just stitched.

Here it is completely cut apart. See how important it was to baste the skirt before cutting? It stayed together in one piece this way.

Next, I sewed seams on either side of the bodice from the armpit to the waistband. I would have actually darted the bodice, except there is a little bit of elastic in the waistband and darting it would have made the waistband pucker weirdly.

Then, I trimmed the sides and overcasted the side seams.

Then, I grabbed the loose ends of the threads I used to sew the basting line and pulled at them and worked the fabric around until the skirt waist was the same size as the bodice waist.

Then, I pinned the bodice to the skirt, right sides together, and flattened the skirt back as much as possible to add a second row of pins. This second row was to help me as I sewed to keep the skirt gathers out of the way of the machine needle as skirt gathers like to pucker and jam in sewing machines.

This is after sewing and then overcasting the skirt to the bodice.

Then, I trimmed the excess fabric away from the waistband.

I look kind of gross here. It was the end of the day and I didn't feel like reapplying makeup!

It fits better now!

The End

Chanel Inspired: Black and White Gingham Peter Pan Collar Easter Dress

1. I am taking an online fashion design course.

2. I wanted to make my Easter dress.

3. Black and white gingham is in right now.

4. I have always loved this Chanel dress since it came out in 2012 (I think it was 2012. Whenever I started blogging...)

Skipping ahead about three days of work.  I had two different gingham fabrics so I decided to color block them.

I didn't feel like buying fusible interfacing, so I just interfaced the collar with another piece of the same white fabric. I knew this choice would cause the collar to lose it's shape (especially after washing), so I under-stitched the seam.

One thing about Peter Pan collars is that they like to pull the back side of the neckline forward. To keep this from happening, I stitched a black rectangle right under the collar attaching the interfacing to the front.

Getting the waistband to attach on the diagonal was tricky because woven fabric stretches on the bias. To alleviate this problem, I interfaced it with another piece of gingham that was cut on the cross grain. (You can see this in a picture later.)

The bottom hem. I wanted it to be diagonal too, but I didn't have enough fabric to cut a big enough piece on the diagonal. At least the size of the gingham is different.

I wanted to do that thing where you dart the elbows to allow for the bend in the arm. You see this sort of thing in high-end clothing.

My first time in a long time that I've sewn in an invisible zipper. I realized that I don't even own a zipper foot. I actually used an overcasting foot and it worked pretty well.

See how the pattern matches up? Well, the horizontal lines do anyway.

I interfaced the bodice with white fabric because I knew the skirt would be gathered and the fabric is kind of flimsy, so I didn't want the skirt to pull the top out of shape. In retrospect, I should have interfaced the skirt too, but I will just wear a slip under it. 

(*NOTE* Don't be gross, Ladies! Wear a slip!)

Oh, also about the picture above. From the inside you can see how the interfacing to the waistband is cut on the cross grain (straight vs. diagonal). This helped the front bias-cut piece maintain its shape.

I sewed in at the shoulders and decided not to cut off the portion of the seam that was thickest. This actually acts as a slight shoulder pad when turned right side out.

The End!