Say Yes to the Dress

Sooo... everything is wrong with this dress. 

I would have taken a picture with it on, but my normal camera isn't working and you can't take a full-length self-portrait with an iphone.  Yes, the dress is missing a sleeve.  That's not the problem.  I got to this point and was so disappointed with the result that I just stopped working on it.   

What's wrong?  It's too small, too see-through, too long, and too dowdy.  The high neckline does not cut a nice shape; the white fabric shows EVERYTHING underneath, even nude foundations.  The zipper is not long enough so it was very difficult to get into.  And the waist is undefined.  Not to mention that it was too large in the bust.  Basically, a mess. 

It's fun to make my own clothes, but sometimes it doesn't go too well, mostly because you can't try it on until it's done.  So you don't know if the fabric will bunch there or snag here or if the blue and the white will go together properly.  You're not sure if the shape of the dress will flatter your figure or a hundred other considerations.

This dress had much promise.  In my head it was gorgeous, but on... not so much.   I wasn't going to give up on it, but I was daunted by the amount of work it would take to fix it so I put it away for nearly a year.  Until now.  Until this day.  I need dramatic movie music...

The Plan.

Here's my plan.  I'm going to replace the white lining which is too see-through with a solid satin dark blue lining.  I entertained the idea of completely altering the neckline, but now I think I'll drop the neckline of the lining and let the white sheer fabric cover the collarbone.  I'll drop the neckline in back as well to situate the zipper farther down.  I'll shorten the skirt to make it more youthful and add a blue satin belt.  I'll take it in at the bust for a better fit.  The sheer fabric I will edge with blue satin.

Now you understand why I put all this work off for a year...

Step one: cut the dress out (again!) in blue satin
Step two: dissassemble the dress... completely.  Each piece of sheer fabric is basted to the lining before being sewn together, by the way.  This took about an hour and a half.
Step three: sew the lining back to the sheer fabric and reassemble the dress.

Here are a few photos of my progress.

Blue satin underdress is being cut out.
I modified the two pieces you see at the top
for a dropped neckline. 

The skirt detached from the dress,
but with the new underskirt. 

I ended up dropping the neckline of the blue fabric a bit

more after trying these pieces on,

but here's an early stage. 

The almost finished dress!  It looks pretty much like I wanted.  I haven't shortened and evened out the skirt yet, mostly because I don't know how long I want it to be.  What do you think? Current length, which is more mature, or shorter?  Originally I wanted shorter because the original dress was too matronly.  But I think the adjustments to the top of the dress made enough of a difference that I'm now leaning towards the longer length.  

Almost done!