Selkie Alterations: Secret Garden Abbott Prairie Puff

When it comes to Selkie, I used to be very level headed, skeptical even, but somewhere in my research and testing, it turned into infatuation and then obsession.  I'm not exactly sure when, but it was undoubtedly due to all those gorgeous prints.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, when it comes to most Selkie styles, I'm not a fan.  They're not really right for my body shape and tend to (the puff dress in particular) look better on girls who are short and stacked.  Good for you if you've got the body for them, but I'm neither of those things and so I don't feel that they're really right for me.  Add to that the fact that organza is one of the cheapest fabrics on the market but these dresses carry a price tag that suggests they're made of silk.  And, yet, I now currently own a baker's dozen of these dresses.  My most recent and hopefully last acquisition from Selkie (oh, who am I kidding?!  I'll definitely get more when they release their summer or fall collection!) is the Abbot Prairie Puff in the Secret Garden print.  

The style?  Long puff sleeves, empire waist, and a super short hemline--still not a fan.  The print?  A stunning impressionistic painting called Garden of Finisterre by Abbott Fuller Graves(1859-1936) that makes my heart skip a beat.  I didn't even realize how gorgeous it was until I saw the dupe.  It was so stunning I considered buying two and using the fabric to make a dress or skirt that will look good on my shape.  But, I suppose that's really a subject for another post.  For the moment, please take a look at this stunning print as captured through a screen shot and just know that no photos will ever do it justice.

After I bought the dupe and saw how great that print was, I knew the real Selkie would be even better, so I started looking for it.  Revolve and ShopIsalis both had it one size up from mine for $295, but Boho-Chic had it for 30% off, so it was only $206 plus free shipping, but it was two sizes up from my usual.  Either way, I was going to have to tailor it and my pretty dress savings is severely depleted, so I had to go for the bargain.

So far, the two Selkies I've had tailored have cost me an additional $85 each.  The tailor has done a fantastic job and it's been worth every penny, but that means that if I bought the Prairie Abbott at Boho-Chic and had it tailored, it would almost negate the amount I saved.  I thought about it for several days and decided that my best course of action would be to either save up for the right size or buy the discounted dress and tailor it myself.  Given the current state of the economy, saving doesn't really seem to be an option.  All my extra income will likely be going toward putting fuel in my car and keeping my home cool this year, so I chose the bargain and altering it myself.

As far as shopping with Boho-Chic went, the first time I tried to purchase with them, my bank declined the transaction.  I tried my mom's card and it also declined the transaction.  Boho chic said everything was working on their end, so I knew it was probably an issue with the bank.  This time, I called the bank and told them I'd be buying from a website based in France and they put a travel note on my card that was good for 24hours so I could purchase the dress without the card being declined and everything went smoothly.  My order shipped the following day and I was sent emails with updates on my tracking status throughout the entire process.  My order arrived to me from France in about one week.  That is excellent service and I'm a little sad that they've decided not to carry Selkie anymore because buying from them was so wonderful.

The dress arrived and I tried it on, knowing it would be big, but I didn't expect how much dress there was.  The skirt was so full and the sleeves were so long and puffy that I felt swallowed.

There was just too much dress everywhere.  Too much fullness in the skirt, too much sleeves, and it was too big.  So, right to work.  I watched a video on how to work with organza and then tore into a dupe dress for practice.  (I'm currently piecing that dress back together in a different style.) and then I jumped into this project.  I gathered the recommended needles and thread for sewing with slippery, prone-to-snag fabrics like organza but after experimenting with my dupe, I opted to sew everything by hand.

This dress actually doesn't look too bad in photos, but I can assure that in real life it was a disaster!  I felt like I was wearing giant cupcake wrappers.

The first thing I did was to take out the inner most layer of organza which was just tacked in to the other two layers.  I removed the seam holding this layer to the bodice and then slowly cut above the gather so that I could keep the fabric gathered and I intend to make a skirt out of it.  After removing the lining layer, I marked off the amount the dress would need to be taken in and used a seam ripper to take out the zipper and then cut out the excess fabric.

Following this I reattached the bodice to the skirt and put the zipper back in.  The fit was perfect now, but the sleeves still felt overwhelming, so I decided to shorten them to elbow length.  I measured and cut.  

Since I opted to sew this entire project by hand so that I could have a little more control over this slippery fabric, I knew that the cuff would look a little less polished and professional than if I were using a machine.  To fix this I decided to reuse to the ruffled cuff on the long sleeves.  I cut off the ruffle leaving a little room for hemming so there would be no fraying.  Then, I hemmed the sleeve and the cuff and attached them together.

This is an up-close pic of the finished product on the sleeve cuff.  From the outside, you cannot tell that I did this by hand, it worked really well to hide by hand-stitching and looks more polished and professional.

I began this project on a quiet Sunday morning at around 10 a.m. and finished it at around 8:00 p.m.  I did take a few breaks and of course there was the process of getting video of the actual sewing and stopping to try-on, so over all, even though I did this entire thing by hand, I'd say it only took me about 6 hours to get this finished product:

Let me just say again how happy I am with the finished product!  Not only does it fit, but it looks like I'm wearing the dress instead of the dress wearing me.  I don't even feel like it needs a belt.  Here's a quick side by side so you can compare:

Proper photos of this gorgeous dress are on the way soon, but in the meantime, you can checkout my video for a more thorough run-down of the alterations process, and I hope that you feel encouraged that if you love a dress (or a brand as I love Selkie) it's not a lost cause if it's not quite right for you.  You can put in a little work and make it work for you.  Or, you know, take it to a tailor and have them make it work for you.

While I'm at it, I think I owe us a look at the painting itself because it is truly quite lovely.  I wish Selkie had released this print in a cotton day dress instead, but alas, I will just have to be content with what I have.