another dress makeover

One thing I love about owning a sewing machine is that I can buy anything on clearance, whether or not it's my size.  So I bought this dress (6 sizes too big) for $7 at the GAP.  It's actually a really cute dress.  

Before and after:

The top is navy blue with a gray skirt attached.  I love the pleats on the front of the skirt, so I didn't want to mess with them.  Usually, when I take something in, I like to take it in on the sides.  It's easy and a lot more forgiving than trying to fit the curves along the back of the dress.  Unfortunately, this dress had a zipper on one side, so I was forced to take it in along the back seam.

I turned the dress inside out, matching up the side seams so that it would be even.

Then I placed a skirt on top to gauge how much material should be taken off.  Then I stitched away, tried it on, stitched some more, and repeated the process for what seemed like forever before I liked the way it fit.  (Too bad I don't have a dressform.  It would make my life so much easier.  But hey, what can you do?)

The pleats on the top front also needed to be taken in.  (I am not a large girl, and the poofiness created by the pleats looked a little bit ridiculous on me.)

Then I realized that I had some scrap material left over from another GAP clearance find ($1.50) that I took in.  So I bunched up the material and lightly stitched it around the neckline.  (I just put a few small stitches in between the bunches to keep the volume.)  Then I shortened the sleeves, and tada!  I had a whole new dress.

Final Product:

After taking these pictures, I took the hem out a little bit to add some more length.  After all, I teach high school physics and do a lot of demonstrations that require me to lean over to flip switches, pick things up off the floor, etc.  The last thing I need is for a bunch of 17-year-old boys to be able to see up my skirt.  (Not that I'm really a fan of anyone looking up my skirt, but still....)

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