I’ve bought a dress with a bodice built in. It’s a pretty dress but has a few too many issues for me to want to wear it as-is. The bodice is too tight on my chest and loose at the waist. At the base of the front panels the bodice curves forward over thin air resulting a strange body shape.
Clothes never fit most people as most people are not average. As the material is rather unique I don’t want to add any size panels to put more room in the chest but I can take it in around the waist to get a more dramatic fit and hip flare.
Wearing the dress out had me paranoid the shoulders was going to slip off. I don’t know if it would actually slip down but I don’t want to have to worry about clothing once it’s on.
I inverted the dress and just started pinning. Once I had a shape I liked I began to fold and stitch.
As there was a lace embellishment between body and skirt I had to unpick the lace to reattach at the end. Once I’d taken in the bodice I needed to either remove part or the skirt to match or re-pleat it. I chose to keep the extra fabric and refold. I now understand the value in the lace to cover up that join.
At this point I have still not cut anything. If the folded away fabric becomes irritating I’ll trim it but for now I’ll keep it for if I put on weight and want to loosen the dress back again.
The final question is of tits. This is a very boob forward dress. I have a very hourglass figure. I want the option to tone down the flesh on show but I also want this project to be complete. For now I can put a bodysuit underneath.