Simple Alterations Breathe New Life Into Old Dresses

I have a granddaughter named Sariah. She would rather wear dresses or skirts (preferably skirts) than pants or shorts. Sariah outgrew all of her skirts, but she kept wearing them even though they were too small. It seemed that no matter where we hid them she would find them.

So, finally my daughter headed to the second hand store to shop for more skirts for Sariah – in her size. But she could not find any. For a few dollars she managed to find dresses that were too small for Sariah, but just right for altering… into skirts.

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sariahs new skirt begins"][/caption]   Here are the four finished four skirts (that were once dresses). I cut off the top under the arm holes. Then I zig-zagged the edges and turned the top edges over and sewed. [caption id="attachment_558" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sariahs many 'new' altered skirts"][/caption]

After that put in elastic, and now Sariah has some smart and styling little skirts. I call the pink one her Dora skirt. I altered and sewed all these in one evening within a couple hours time.  You too can try this on special dresses that your child or grandchild outgrows and is not yet wanting to part with. This gives the garment one more year of wear, bringing your child one more year of pleasure. Write me and tell me of something you altered so you or your children/grandchildren could get a little more use out of them.  As Always, Happy Sewing, JoLene

Be sure to visit my website: http://jolenesews.com/

First-hand experience altering second-hand garment yields a fit.

My daughter is quite the second-hand shopper. She and I can go down the same store isle yet she will come out with several great things, and I come out empty handed. I have discovered that when you go on one of these second-hand shopping trips do so with something in mind and you will be successful. So with that said I want to share a story of one of my daughters shopping finds. Among the items she brought home from one such second-hand shopping trip was this skirt. [caption id="attachment_544" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The skirt before alterations"][/caption] As you see it is a newer style skirt with sequins on the front.  It was a size 10 and she wears a size 8 or smaller. Even though she is pregnant she figured she could get away with wearing it with a longer shirt over the top. (She is one of those that doesn't get very big during her pregnancies).  I picked the skirt and was admiring it. I noticed it looked quite small. It was then that we both realized that it was a child's size 10, not an adult size 10. We both laughed. That is what can happen when shopping second-hand stores. Often time you don't try them on or you get them home and something is wrong with them. But that is okay, because when you shop these kinds of stores you have to expect such things will occur. So, what does one do with an under-sized skirt. Re-donate it or alter it. My daughter decided to alter it for her daughter that is a child size 6x. Well, from a 10 to a 6 is quite a big size difference, but because of the style of this skirt it would not be hard to alter. So we decided to fix it.  I am going to show you how easy it is to alter this cute little skirt: First I cut off the waist band and cut the side seams off, leaving ¼ inch seam allowance. (I tried the skirt on the child inside out and pinned parallel to the seam and got a good fit. I also figured out how much to cut off of the top).

1. I sewed the sides together, and at this point you can zig zag or surge the edges if you would like.

I am going to show you how easy it is to alter this cute little skirt: 

1. First I cut off the waist band and cut the side seams off, leaving ¼ inch seam allowance. (I tried the skirt on the child inside out and pinned parallel to the seam and got a good fit. I also figured out how much to cut off of the top).

The skirt during the alteration process

2. I sewed the sides together, and at this point you can zig zag or surge the edges if you would like.

1.      3. Next I cut out a new waist band. I sewed elastic to the back, sewed the elastic waist band to the skirt, and then sewed the front waist band to the skirt.

4. 1.      Put in elastic. At this point I tried it on the child. You can shorten a little if needed, which is what I did. [caption id="attachment_546" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Alterations complete - the finished skirt!"][/caption]  

1.      5. Taa… daa… a skirt finished, not for the daughter, but for the grand daughter. I hope this helps you see that altering a garment can be relatively simple, and you might need to try it the next time your second-hand shopping finds you with an item that doesn't fit just how you thought it might.

 

As always,

 

Happy Sewing, JoLene

Be sure to visit my website: http://jolenesews.com/