I’m really happy with how this dress turned out after several alterations! First, a few notes on the dress itself:

• It’s pretty obvious from the dress’s original shape that its from the eighties – lower waist, mid-length skirt, wide collar, and wide almost wristlength sleeves. It’s from “The American Shirtdress” brand.
• The material is very light and crisp and feels a lot like cotton, but I suspected that since it’s from the eighties there’s some poly in there, too. After looking up and finding a few listings for the same dress (though in different colors and prints), that assumption was confirmed. Still, it feels like it will be fine in warmer weather, but nice for fall as well.

BEFORE:

Here’s a look at the before. The dress was classed as a large and I typically wear medium, so there was a bit of extra fabric for me, especially since I prefer to wear fitted waistbands just above/at my belly button. More of a high-waisted, natural waistline that the dress originally had.

I actually got this dress several years ago, before I had my son. I knew when I originally purchased it that I wanted to make some alterations, but since it had been so long, I tried it on again to see if any of my ideas had changed. I had thought before that I’d shorten the skirt to above my knees, but at this recent try-on decided I actually liked the general length. However, even with the elastic waistline sitting higher on me than intended, the pockets still felt a little low. I also worried that the collar might sit a little too wide. I decided to do the “easy” alterations first and go from there. 

First up, I knew I wanted to take in the sides on the torso a bit and shorten and cuff the sleeves.

You can see there’s a good bit of excess fabric on the back. I hoped taking in the sides a bit would help a little. Adjusting at the waistband would also help, but I hadn’t planned to do that originally and the prospect of cutting and redoing the waistline seemed a bit scary…

DURING:

First, I shortened the sleeves a good bit. (I’m thinking the leftover sleeve fabric will make good pockets for another garment someday.) Then with the skirt inside out, starting just above the waistline I gradually trimmed the sides and sleeves about an inch in total on each side. 

I then rolled and pressed the sleeves so that the cuff would cover the shoulder seam, and did four tiny tack stitches at the front, back, top, and bottom of the cuff to hold it in place during wear.

While making these other alterations, I had been working out in my head how I might go about cutting and altering the waistline level without having to redo the encased elastic. I knew in the long run the dress would fit me better if I did so I wanted to plan the best, yet simplest method to do so, since cutting and resewing at the waistline seemed like a gamble due to my novice machine sewing skills.  But, doing so would eliminate some of the excess material in the torso and also raise the skirt – and therefore the pockets – just a little bit.

I tried on the dress and figured out where I wanted the waistband to sit. This turned out to be just above the lowest button. I cut midway between the button and the encased elastic to give myself some excess fabric to work with on both the top and bottom of the dress, if needed.

Bye, little button! Into the button stash you go!

I placed the top of the dress right sides out into the wrong-sides-out skirt, as shown, and pinned at the side seams, front, and back. I stretched the elastic out completely as I sewed, while sewing directly into the ditch of the top seam of the elastic casing. 

I decided to just leave most of the excess fabric in case I wind up wanting to adjust in places again and simply use pinking shears to keep it from fraying. Not the prettiest, but it’s not uncomfortable or noticeable at all when wearing the dress. 

In the picture above the dress’s original seam can be seen on the bottom, while mine is on the top. I did have to go back and adjust right at the button placket base and just beside, but overall it looks much the same as the dress’s original gathered waistband. 

AFTER:

And here it is after! I’m really pleased. I didn’t make any changes to the collar as after trying it on with the sleeve and waistband changes I think it looks fine and not “too big” for the refitting.

I love how the sleeves look and fit now. And the pockets are at a comfortable level. 

Here, you can see how much excess fabric is gone from the back. 

Sleeve details. 

These changes do make the dress look a bit more modern, but really, they’re just  changes that fit my personal style more and mean I’ll get lots of wear out of this dress now.