Ever find a dress you really love, but it's just a bit too droopy. And when I say "droopy", I mean the cut is a bit too low for your liking. Depending on how the sleeves sit and how the dress is sewn, it can be an easy fix.
I purchased a pink dress the other day. It's darling and all, but a little too baggy for me at the bust. I have to hold it up so that it doesn't sit too low. I fished the dress out of the clearance rack for $10.00 and just couldn't pass it up, despite not fitting "perfectly". Plus at that price, I figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if I ruined the dress by trying to tailor it myself.
The dress fits fine everywhere else, so it's a simple fix: I just need to shorten the sleeve length a tad so the dress will sit at a more comfortable height
Sew, let's get started! (see what I did there? Sorry, that was a little cheesy....)
I am going to sew the sleeves at the back of the dress, as that will be less visible than if sewn in the front
I am taking a bit of the sleeve and folding it down on the inside of the dress. Then I am pinning it down so that the sleeve stays put as I sew it.
I will repeat with the other sleeve. If you're giving this a go yourself, just make that the sleeves are pinned at the same length (you would not want one sleeve being drastically long and the other rather short).
I am going to use a white thread that I have to sew the sleeves. I would recommend using a thread that matches the color of the dress you are sewing. But, as I do not have any pink, salmon, or coral colored thread, white will have to do. In a way, it will highlight where I have sewn the sleeve onto the dress
I am using the 5th setting on my sewing machine, one that stitches at shorter intervals.
And let the sewing begin!
I am sewing right at the edge of the dress, where the original stitch for the sleeve is
If you are pretty new to sewing, make sure to do a couple back stitches when you start sewing and when you get to the end of sewing the sleeve. I find that that helps to prevent the stitching from being pulled loose or coming undone
Once I have finished, I will snip the thread, freeing the dress and then I will remove the pins.
You may have to trim the loose hanging threads at the end of the sleeves if they are too long.
Don't jump to sniping off the little excess sleeve yet! I would recommend trying on the dress to ensure it fits (I have lost a couple dresses by cutting off too much). I actually won't cut the excess sleeve off in case I decide later on that I want to make an adjustment. It looks a bit silly to keep the excess sleeve on, but it won't be visible when I put the dress on and the excess does not bother/itch me when I wear it.
Voila! Not too bad. I don't have to hold the dress up and it fits rather comfortably.
I hope this was helpful to you too! Kind of an easy fix if you also have trouble with finding dresses that fit right. I wouldn't say this is the solution to fixing all baggy or droopy dresses though. It really depends on the dress style and how it fits.
Feel free to leave a comment or like this if you would like to see more on refashioning and tailor tutorials :)
I have a couple more dresses that I would like to take care of and planning to get a couple shirt tutorial posts up too! Happy Monday Everyone!
