How many of you happen to have a dress in your closet that is just too big? Either from losing weight, a pregnancy, or it's stretched out after all those washings? Or how many times do you go shopping and you find this AMAZING dress only to find they only have it in a larger size then you need? Here is a quick and SOOO simple solution. Who would have thought it could be so simple?
It's so easy to simply tailor a dress to fit like this. (the photo on the right is the very same dress I wore last year to my husband's work Christmas party, the left is the tailored version I wore this year.)
This is how much I needed to "take in." (yeah, don't mind my zombie face, I was concentrating really hard.) :)
'Taking in' a dress means that you are moving the seam inward from it's current position. So what you want to do is measure around your waist and hips, then measure the front and back of the dress at the waist and hips. Subtract the difference of each measurement. This is approximately how much room you need to take in the waist and the hips, give or take.
For example if your waist and hip measurements are:
Waist: 30
Hips: 36
And the dress measures at:
Waist: 36
Hips 40
Subtract those two numbers and you will know how much you need to take it in. You may have to play with it a little bit. So with these measurements I took it in about 4 inches, which comes out to about 2 inches from each side of the dress. Then I just took some chalk and measured the whole way down each side of the dress, connected the lines, pinned the front and back of the dress together, and then started sewing. I used white thread so you could see what I'm talking about:
YOU DON'T WANT TO CUT ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'VE TRIED IT ON AND KNOW THAT I'S A GOOD FIT!! Once you've done that, you can finish off the edges by doing a zig zag stitch or using a serger to finish the edges.
And that's it! That's all you do! Super simple, straight line sewing. And when you can make something fit like this, why not? So the next time you are out shopping and can only find that AMAZING dress in two sizes to big you can still buy it and make it fit perfectly! Give it a try, you'll amaze yourself.
Tomorrow I'll do a "What's for dinner?" kind of night and share with you some quick and easy ideas for a nice healthy dinner for your family.
