While it fitted well from the waist down, it was obviously sewn for someone with a smaller rib cage and breasts. I do not have any photos of me wearing the dress in this state, but imagine 10kg of potatoes in a 5kg bag. That is what I looked like in this dress.

So, then it was time to unpick the seams on either side of the back zipper, and attach two lace inserts. There was a little bit of lace left over from some other thing, so I measured two isosceles triangles and sewed them into the space where the seams were. It’s hard to see, but I added approximately 10cm to the bust by doing that. I hand-sew everything, and looking closely you can see a pattern of Xs along the lace and down to the start of the tulle of the skirt. I did that because I thought running stitch would be boring, and I didn’t have any thread in Insipid Pink.

Lace inserts and stitchery

So, then it was time to alter the bottom. Using lengths of tulle approximately 15cm wide by 1.5m long I made concertina folds 5cm long to add more volume to the bottom of the dress and sewed those firmly to the hemline.

From a distance

Front view

Back view

For the most part then I was done. I thought the uninterrupted pink material of the bodice was unflattering to my skin tone, so I sewed a length of lace around the top of the bodice, to break it up visually.

Finished dress modelled by the ever patient Puzzletits

Back view

Back detail

Bam.

So, there is my birthday dress. 100% secondhand and reused material, maybe…20 hours work altogether? Worth it.