BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Sewing Altering a strapless Dress

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone might have any insight to this. I have made a strapless bridesmaid dress for a lady. The pattern that I started with was not a maternity pattern, and she is due in 3-4 weeks. I did the mock up and redrafted the pattern to be a custom fit. However, the final product left too much space at the very top of the dress. The dress has boning all the way around, a zipper in the back, and a facing at the top. Since it is already completed, does anyone have any ideas as to how I could remove 2.5" out of the dress? I honestly have no idea why it wound up that much too big. And it needs to slope back to the current size by the bust point.

I though about removing the zipper and facing from the back and taking it out there, but that's a lot of additional work.

I also thought about taking it out of the side front to side back seam, but the facing is a continuous piece there and the boning would also need to be moved.

Does anyone have any suggestions that would minimize the amount of time needed to make this adjustment since there isn't much time left before the wedding?

Thanks!

Oh I hope I'm not too late. My first choice would have been the zipper for a more professional look but I would have dreaded it every step of the way.

An easy alternative would be to make darts at each side of the zipper.