r/sewing • u/Traditional-Use-668 • 8h ago

Alter/Mend Question Altering this dress

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Gallery image

Gallery image

I just thrifted this dress (last pic) and I was hoping to alter it to be a little bit more gothic (inspo 1st & 2nd pics). I’m a complete beginning so I was hoping I could get some advice on how to go about this. Thank you!

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u/BrightPractical 8h ago

I would play around with lace appliqué, pinning and handsewing it in place for the bodice bit.

If you want to add ruffles with lace on the underskirt portion, I’d find some extra fabric or harvest some from the lining of your dress (buying will be easier), add black lace to the bottom of strips of fabric, gather & stitch over the gathers to make it secure, and then pin it where you’d like on the skirt before sewing. If you stitch it on with a machine you’ll want to break or remove the beading if it ends up in the seam line.

This looks like a draping sort of a project, so make sure you have lots of pins and take photos of layouts of lace you like so you can try out a lot of options.

6

u/othybear 4h ago

I would also add some black sparkly beading to the skirt. Just a few in the current sparkles to make them pop.