...the performance dresses for the young ladies in the Band finally came in...later than planned...and ALL TOO BIG...even though we had used the sizing chart provided by the company...so we moved the smaller sizes up and returned the larger ones in exchange for some 00 sized ones...that's right zero-zero...and they were STILL TOO BIG!!!...so they needed to be altered...within a week...before the concert...
...so I took on a couple of them...
...we measured and pinned...and I spent hours taking them apart...
...the scariest part was cutting the shoulders...
...then I got to work on the sleeves...if you're going to take 2 inches out of the shoulder...you've got to accomodate that in the sleeve somehow...first I trimmed the curve...
...the sleeves are doubled...
...so I cut it open at the seam...
...opened them up...
...matched seams...
...and stitched them back together right side together...
...then I got to work on the shoulders...I stitched across the facing and the shoulder seam...
...then because of the amount I'd taken off the top...there was extra fabric on the sleeve side of the shoulder that had to be trimmed...
...so I trimmed that off...
...until it was even at the top shoulder seam...
...set in the trimmed and stitched sleeves...making sure the center top and the bottom underarm seams matched...
...and stitched the sleeves in place...
...and finally stitched the little hanging straps back on place...
...and the bodice alterations were done...
...then I got to do it all again...
...the dresses were actually a little bit different...even though they were the same size and ordered from the same company...
...but I did the same steps for both dresses...
...then it was on to the hem...we had measured for the hem (of course)...and pinned that in place...
...but because the original dress had a double turned hem...I had to go around and let the pinned hem down 1/2 inch all the way around...
...then with the pins still in place...I just stiched all the way around once ...
...and then carefully trimmed away the excess fabric...
...you have to be really careful not to knick the front fabric...just trim close to the seam you just made...
...turned that under and stitched around again...
...and they were done...
...of course I'll have pictures of the concert tomorrow...
~Have a lovely day!
That is really scary stuff and you are very brave to do it.
ReplyDeletewow, that was a lot of work!! you are such a good sport!
ReplyDeletelove, k
That sounds like an epic amount of work, good thing you're super talented!
ReplyDeleteYou are a band mom saint! This is probably why we had skirts and tops in Concert Band... minimal fitting required!
ReplyDeleteWow, I am so impressed! Alterations like that are very challenging. Nicely done.
ReplyDelete