Dressember Dresses; The Tight One

 Hello Readers. December 2020 is here. I didn't think it would ever get here. This year felt like it lasted at least 47 years. And I haven't had to deal with the harsh difficulties of so many others. I participate in Dressember every year because victims of human trafficking need help to move forward. They need rescue, safety and rehabilitation. This trauma isn't something people can move past without help. I appreciate that after-care is prioritized by Dressember and the organizations they partner with. You can learn more at their site. 

I found this long navy blue dress at a clothes swap and fell in love. I love navy blue, and this was a cozy sweater dress.

 There was one problem. It was much tighter than I thought it would be. It was a knit but it didn't have much stretch at all. I thought about making a maxi-skirt but really wanted a dress with those gray side panels. What could I do?

First, I decided the dress needed to be shorter. I put it on my dress form and measured to make sure I would get the skirt even all the way around.

I liked the new length but it was still too tight.

I cut the sides open on each side of the dress. I kept cutting along the seam all the way up the inside of each arm. 

I had all that extra fabric I had cut off from the bottom of the dress. Somewhere in that extra fabric was going to be my solution.

I used that extra fabric to expand the dress a little on each side where I had cut it open. I got a 1/4 off and inch of in the waist but I ignored it.

Adding the blue fabric in the sides gave me the extra room I needed. I was so much more comfortable and cozy. My new dress is a knit so using the same fabric meant that it all worked well together. And I did not need to buy any other fabric.

Thanks for reading along, you can go to my Dressember page to learn more about the work Dressember does to help victims of human trafficking.