As you can see, the dress is quite... snug. Not uncomfortably so, but enough that I had to stuff myself into some heavy duty shape wear to keep from showing all my lumps and bumps. Those wrinkles across the back? They're due to a combination of sway back and the fact that this dress is form fitting. 
My first thought was, of course, to just re-baste the side seams with a smaller seam allowance. That's what I'd normally do if I needed a little bit more room. But here's the problem. If I let the dress out and make it any looser, the front gathers are going to start to sag. It's the tension across the front of the body that keeps them in place. 
In the photo above, you can see a little bit of what I'm talking about. The bottom gathers are sagging ever so slightly, and the bottom of the dress hangs lower in the front. Yes, my "bubble butt" is contributing to the problem as well, but it wouldn't be as bad without those gathers in the front.
From the front it's not so noticeable, and I actually do like the ruching across my body. It helps to camouflage my tummy.
And yes, the neckline turned out quite low, even with the adjustments I made (grading down to a 42 and raising the center front 1".) All the photos above were taken with the overlap pinned.
The photo below was taken unpinned. I can only imagine how bad it would have been if I'd just cut the straight 44. Notice that the horizontal wrinkles above the bust disappear when the pin is removed.
The clear elastic in the neckline worked out perfect. That edge is snug up against my body and it isn't going anywhere. I can twist, turn, bend over, or even hang upside down and there is absolutely no gaping. Hopefully it won't stretch during wear and expose any more cleavage!
I guess this dress is going to have to be strictly a "date night" dress and not a work dress. In any case, the weather is so beautiful now, it may go straight into the closet to wait for fall when heavy knits and shape wear will be more practical.
4 comments:
Loving the dress but I can see what you mean about the draping of the front panels. Perhaps it would work better if you only had the ruching from your high hip up.
It would be a relatively easy fix to undo the gathers from the lower 4" or so and re-cut the front hem to match the back. Please don't put it away until next fall, I'd love to see it finished - it's a great colour for you.
I hear what you are saying, but really the dress looks very nice in the pictures. You have a perfect hour glass figure and I see curves not lumps and bumps!
Can you put some sort of stay in the dress (by 'stay' I mean a piece of fabric on the inside that will help keep the tension of the fabric, so that drapes fall in a manner you find flattering?
Rose in SV
I agree that it's more date night than work day but you look wonderful in it. Bravo about the clear elastic. I have yet to get that technique to work for me but your results are encouraging me to try some more.
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