For this wedding dress makeover, I thought i'd let my Instagram followers have some fun and make all the decisions on how it should be transformed. They ended up deciding on an empire waist gown, with skinny straps that criss-crossed in the back, and a pleated skirt that included a high leg slit.
The most important thing to me when transforming this dress was using as much of the original dress as possible before buying new material (because what would be the point if I replaced everything?) and that I incorporate the lace applique in a new way.
The hardest thing was figuring out the pleats for the skirt and finding a way to add the leg slit. The second most challenging thing was figuring out how to work the lace applique back into the new dress design. Overall I am happy with the decisions I made.
How long did it take me? I worked on this dress over a course of a week. Sewing wise, it didn't take very long but like I mentioned above, draping the pleats and figuring out a creative and cute way to place the lace took many hours. Mainly because I had to take time to brainstorm, and then take a break from brainstorming so I can look at it with new eyes the next day. Overall I feel like it took me 4-5 days.
Additional Materials Purchased:
1. Lining for the skirt - I bought 1.5 yards (price can vary depending where you buy it but mine was around $5 a yard)
2. 1 yard of Organza to replace the organza I cut the lace applique out of which was $9 a yard. I used coupons from Joann so I got 40% off anything that wasn't on sale.
3. Horsehair braid - Mine was 6 inches and I already had some at home but buying a new roll is $25 on amazon: https://amzn.to/2o0daDf
4. I bought new pearl beads because the original ones weren't going to be enough. They were also a different color (silver) vs the eggshell beads I bought so I didn't want to mix and match them if I ran out of the silver beads. It cost about $3.
Last minute decisions:
-I added some light weight tulle in between the front bodice to keep the center front from lifting up. Highly recommend you doing this if your dress is low-cut.
-I also added a detachable bow to the back waist because my pleats didn't meet up exactly in the middle so I thought it looked a little empty. It also covered the top of the zipper.
This was not a dress I would've designed for myself so I had fun making it and seeing what my followers chose for me. Thank you to everyone that participated :)
xo April
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