'The Perfect Dress' Alterations Guide

Hi there, my fellow sewing lover!

If you want to make the perfect dress (aka: “The Graduation Dress”) by Mai Ardour and need a bit of guidance on the alterations, you came to the right place. This blog post contains a much more detailed explanation on the alterations I made to the sewing pattern.

(All measurements mentioned are in inches)

• Step 1: First, I removed the seam allowance on both sides of the dress because the fit was a bit loose for me.
  • Since I was serging the seams, it only took ¼”, which left a lot of excess fabric. (If not using the serger, you might want to sew with the seam allowance). Once I did this, the waist and skirt fit a lot better. This is the only step that I made where I transferred the adjustment on the paper pattern. But, at this point, the top sides still needed a bit more adjusting.
• Step 2: Which leads us to the second step. I took in 1” from the top sides of the dress, truing up (adjusting) 3” down from the top sides.
  • This made the front and back neckline stay nice and close to my body and prevented it from gaping.
• Step 3: For step number 3, this can be optional.
  • If the skirt is draping loosely or weirdly on the sides, you can adjust the sides of the skirt by pinning and marking the dress as you have it on, then removing the excess fabric. You can skip this one if you don’t need to, but this depends entirely on the fit or the fabric that you used. I didn’t need to do this on the mockup dress (beige dress), but I did on the barbie dress.
• I ended up sewing the bias tape after making the alterations. I used a wider bias tape (brand: Wrights) on the mockup because I mistakenly used a ½” double fold bias tape when I was supposed to use ½” single fold. So, make sure you purchase the ½” single fold or the ¼” double fold.
• I ended up loving the longer version of the dress so much that I decided to make the barbie version a maxi length instead of the original length.
  • Step 4: (SHORTENING THE SKIRT) If you do want the midi length, this is what I did to adjust the paper pattern.
    • Step 1: First, I made a cut line between the hip line and the hem line. Preferably choose a spot where your adjustment won’t distort the shape of the pattern too much, especially on the hem.
    • Step 2: I removed 7” on the pattern. I pretty much just folded the cut line instead of cutting but this is totally up to you.
    • Step 3: Adjust the sides of the skirt to make it flow together nicely with the bell-shaped look of the hem.
  • Step 5: Finalize your dress and enjoy the sewing process. Good luck!

Hoping this helps you in making your perfect dress!

Sincerely,

Angelika

Seamstress & Fashion Designer