Simple Alterations Create Great Dress-pectations

If I had my druthers, every dress,  no matter the cost or the material, would fit perfectly right out off the box or off the rack.  Unfortunately the more experience I gain in the world the more I find that most clothing could use a little tailoring to make it the perfect fit and some clothing is just beyond saving.

After buying a few designer gowns from Teuta Matoshi, I decided to try the inexpensive dupes and see if the price tag was really worth it or if there were bargains available for those who are willing to look.  I tried a total of 6 Matoshi gowns and 5 dupe dresses and the result of this experimentation?  In my experience, you really do get what you pay for.  Sorry to say that the dupes are pretty disappointing, but there were a couple of dresses that were acceptable if I could get around a pretty major issue which was the bra cups.  Ugh, they are awful and they look so awful on me.  But, they're such pretty dresses I wondered if I could salvage them at all.  Upon closer inspection, I decided to take a risk and sew a bra to the foam cups.  I hoped it would work, but kept my expectations pretty low.  The result?  See for yourself:

Before          &            After

It's a small thing that makes a big difference in the way a garment fits your shape and leaving out things that provide structure produce a sloppy, baggy fit that benefits no one.  I'm over the moon that I get to keep this dress and that it actually fits now that I've tailored it.  If you want to read about exactly how I did this, check yesterday's post.

If at all possible, it's better to buy something you don't have to alter and in my opinion it is worth it to pay a little more for something that fits you well as is.  But, if you find something really beautiful and/or that's a great bargain but needs a little work, don't be afraid to tailor it to fit your shape.

I don't want to mislead you into thinking that I just impulsively jumped into altering this dress.  Quite the contrary.  After trying it on and seeing how it fit, I looked at this dress several times, examining it from all angles.  Then I spent a few days, or a week thinking about how I could fix it.  Look and think.  Think and look.  Until I just sat down and started working on the solution that I had decided on.  

I still didn't know if it would work, but I was willing to try.  Just be sure you consider your options if you truly want to avoid damaging the dress.  Let's face it, taking a risk doesn't always pan out, so it's better to do as much planning as possible before you dive in to a project like this.  In the case of this dress, I knew that trying to take out the cups and simply trim them down wouldn't work because the fabric is cut and sewn to match those shapes.  

Approaching it that way would involve a major overhaul that I may not have the skill for, definitely don't have the machine for, and would likely result in torn fabric--it's so delicate--and a useless dress.  So, I had to think of the least aggressive approach that would yield the best results.   Even so, with all my thinking, looking, and planning, I knew there was a chance this wouldn't work out.  On the other hand, I like the dress enough I didn't want to part with it.

While it's true that you run the risk of ruining the dress, if it doesn't fit you're not going to wear it anyway, so why not take a chance or send that dress packing.  There's no point in it taking up space in your closet if you don't love it and it doesn't love you back.

Now, I have a dress that I love and can wear with confidence.  I brought it along today to the old mercantile.  I rented this space for an hour and I brought along as many pretty dresses as would safely fit in my car, but truth be told I got a little daydreamy just wandering around and looking at the old building so I didn't have as much time for photos as I would have liked.

I guess I'll just have to come back here again in the near future and try to really focus up....or else just devote my whole hour to exploring and forget about the photos entirely.  Either way I'll be wearing a pretty dress for the occasion.

Shopping Info: Pink Hearty Dress from Aliexpress, Pink Heels by Bettie Page