dress fix

OK, so a few weeks ago my daughter and I went to the mall looking for a comfy dress for her to wear on a temple trip.  With a 4 hour drive both ways she didn't want anything uncomfy.  We live in a small town but she did find a dress she loved at Rue 21.  It had an open back but she had a tank top to layer under it to cover her back and it was borderline on length but we bought it.

When she got home we washed the dress and it shrunk.  I didn't notice until we were dashing out the door on Sunday morning so unfortunately she wore it to church.  She mentioned to her friend's mom that she was NEVER going to escape the house so improperly covered again and the friend's mom suggested that she add a navy blue lace section.  I went to Goodwill and actually found a navy blue shirt from Forever 21 (that was shapeless) and with a little Pinterest inspiration I got to work.

We decided to fill in the back of the dress with the same part of the shirt first.  I did this by hanging the dress over the shirt on a hanger and pinning them together (the next crazy project I start I will try to remember to take photos for you!).  Then I just sewed over the 2 layers to sew them together here.

Then I trimmed the lace leaving me with a very holey lace shirt.

Then I cut off the bottom 3 inches of the dress.

Then I trimmed the hemmed edge off of the lace shirt and cut 2- 6 inch strips off of it.

Of course, it was already missing a big chunk in the back but it was higher than I needed to cut so it didn't matter.  The next part was the trickiest.  I cut a side seam out of each strip and made a big loop with the 2 fabric strips and started going around the bottom piece (the 3 inches we cut off) pinning it (right sides together) in place. I ended up with too much lace and had to resew to make it a little smaller.  I zigzagged that together and then pinned that piece (right sides together) to the dress.  I was really worried about this step but it turned out beautifully.  I did end up with a couple little tucks to get it to match up but they aren't noticeable.  I also matched the seams on the bottom 3 inches to the seams on the rest of the dress.  

The best thing is that my teenage daughter LOVES it!!  I thought about putting some navy or white knit behind the lace so it isn't see through but she doesn't want me to so we will see if it bothers me enough that I make her do it.  I am just really happy that her dress is more modest now.  It is so hard for her to find things she loves that cover well enough.  I hope this makes you brave enough to give it a try!

Update:  I did go back and put a strip of navy blue knit behind the lace fill in on the bottom.  I didn't on the back, my daughter wears her navy tank top under it so it wasn't needed.