It’s all too easy to keep items of clothing we don’t really love, just because there’s always that future glimmer of hope that ‘I’ll probably need it one day’. I was quite the opposite when I was younger – desperately wanting to replace the ‘gardening clothes’ in my wardrobe with a classy and chic plethora of statement items. In reality, I haven’t changed there (and let’s be real – who doesn’t want that in their dream walk-in-wardrobe), but I have been inspired to see what I can do with the less exciting pieces that feel slightly abandoned in the closet.
I am definitely no expert seamstress, particularly as I usually become far too excited to finish the job, but I have had many sewing projects that I have challenged myself with. I would say in this instance, it wasn’t an overly ambitious task, but I did run into a few complications as my design ideas changed.
This simple black dress was my classic ‘choir dress’ for concerts, and did the job with a thin belt around the middle. But I was never a huge fan of the basic scooped neck line, strap width and the length was a tad too much, even with heels. So I finally decided to take the plunge and play around with the design, and hopefully without ruining the general shape and fit.
The first obvious step was to reduce the length, so I pencilled in where I wanted to lift it to, and went to the sewing machine after rolling the hem up twice. I have a tendency to break the rules when it comes to stitching, and I’m sure if any designer looked up close they would despair. But it works for me, and I’m careful to make sure the material lies flat and hangs correctly once altered.
The neckline came next, and originally I planned to merely thin the straps, and create a slight V-shape in the front and back to give it a sexier feel. But alas, the material was rather thin and stretchy, and by the time I had cut material away there was not much left to sew up! So plan B – cut away the straps and use the spare material from the bottom of the dress to create a halter-style dress. I thinly folded over the edges to sew up on the neckline I had left behind, and created inch-wide, 32cm long straps by folding over the spare material, and sewed them onto the dress, allowing some puckering to give texture.
And is if by magic, this alteration now allows me to wear the dress without a belt, and I couldn’t have been happier with the result! By spending time altering the dress bit by bit, and not making any drastic changes or accidentally cutting it in half, I now have an item that I’m excited to wear. Ironically since altering it, I haven’t actually been involved in any more choir concerts…
P.S. Don’t be too hasty if it’s quite an expensive item! This was definitely inexpensive, so I was happy to take risks.
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