A Beautiful Transformation

jsandsalterations
Feb 23, 2023
2 min read

Sharon came to me based on the recommedation of a mutual friend. She had already previously had her dress altered at a local place closer to her home. They had taken up her straps, taken in the center mesh piece of her bodice, sewn in cups and hemmed her dress. The only think that she was satisfied with, was her hem. Her main concern was the bust area of her dress and that she didnt feel comfortable with her newley altered straps. We set an appointment so I could take a look in person as to what was going on. Here are a few photos she sent to me via text.

The first thing I noticed at our initial fitting was that the bust area of her dress was sitting too high on her chest. They had raised the straps up too much, and the dress was no longer sitting in the proper place. Thankfully, they had not cut off what they had take up, so while the dress was on her I carefully released the shoulders back into their original position and immediatly I heard a sigh of relief.

The second thing I noticed is they had sewn in cups 4 times her bust size into her dress. They did this to fill up the cups, but it only pushed the dress farther away from her body and brought even more attention to that aspect of her dress. I suggested doing a bust reduction, in which the dress cups would would be taken in along the princess seams for a more natural, and flattering fit. I explained that her lace and beads would be carefully put back.

The third thing I noticed was that the mesh centerpiece could be taken in a wee bit more, and in a more unnoticeable way.

Lasty, I noticed the upper back of the dress needed to be taken in, as it was quite loose and gaping.

She gave me the go ahead to fix her dress and to address these four areas.

She left the dress, I pulled out my magic wand and got to work.

SECOND FITTING

At our second fitting, I had the shoulders rebeaded, princess seams taken in, pinned the center front panel, had taken in the back and rebeaded and had all the lace pinned to make sure she was happy with all the alterations so far. She was so excited to see the progress of her dress! What was once large, bulky and uncomfortable was now fitted to her beautiful shape and comfortable.

Here are some progress photos and a few comparisons of someone elses work, vs my own.

That center mesh panel, I completly redesigned the lace and beadwork to keep symmetry and hide the take in. I also washed all the lace pieces the previous person had chalk marked on.