Making Tight Clothes Bigger and Bigger

Hello Readers. Do you have any clothes that have grown too tight? Is it just me? Life happens, aging happens, clothes get too tight. Read on to see how I made clothes "grow" to fit me.

This dress was soft and stretchy so I could technically get it on my body. You can see how tight the dress is on my dress form, and this dress form is a little smaller than I am.
 I couldn't wear it this tight.

 

 I decided to cut the bottom of this dress off and make a shirt. I cut along the seam and saved the lower part of the dress for later.

 I cut along the side seams to open the shirt. I cut the seams from the bottom, all the way up to the ends of the arms. I wanted the shirt completely open on the sides to insert extra fabric and make it bigger.

I also cut this black shirt up for material. I cut strips of the black fabric to put into the sides of my striped shirt and make the shirt wider. I thought 2 of these black strips, 1 on each side, would make the shirt big enough.
 (I was wrong. I underestimated, but that's OK. Read on.)

 The side pieces looked great but the shirt was still a little tighter than I wanted. I should have made the black pieces bigger.

I could have taken the side pieces out and put in larger pieces. That would have been a lot more work. I decided to add a strip of black fabric down the middle of the back of this shirt. It added about 2 inches. That was just right.

Remember that piece of dress I cut off? I added some of it to the bottom as a waistband. I used the part with the hem already on it. It made the new shirt look more finished. And I really liked the contrast of horizontal and vertical stripes.

I kept the shirt long enough to tuck in but I also like it out so all the stripes show. I wore this to a kids birthday party last weekend. It was perfect. (Until I dropped red sauce on myself when I was pigging out on home-made spring rolls. Oops!)

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- This shirt became an instant favorite. I am still loving it.