Weekend alteration project – Hemming a dress

Weekend alteration project — hemming a dress (and figuring out how much to cut off). 20 minutes.

This was a dress I bought online (M.M. LaFleur), and when it came, I felt like I was swimming in it. But I realized that it was just the length that was bothering me. So how much to shorten it?

This depends a lot on purpose, for me. This dress is one I wanted to wear for more traditional kinds of places — if I were running for office, or maybe giving a department presentation. I started trying pinning it up — first 2 inches up, then 4 inches, then 6 inches.

6 inches definitely felt less conservative, and I thought kind of clashed with the more formal cut of the top of the dress. I waffled between 2 and 4, and in the end, decided to do 2 inches; I could always take another 2 inches off at a later date if I decided to.

I think I’m happy with the end result — will try actually wearing it out at some point. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

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