Quick redo of a Target dress
I recently found this cute dress at Target and I thought it would be perfect for my upcoming travels. It’s cute, can be dressed up or down with accessories, comfy as a sweatshirt and an easy pack. What’s not to love? Once I got it home though, I realized it had a very boxy fit.
Taller girls can wear this fit, but it’s not a great look for me-I needed to put some curve into it. Geez, I look like somebody died, LOL!
The side view really shows how baggy it is on me.
I planned to belt it and you can see the mountains of fabric that were billowing out above and below the belt-oh this so does not work on a short girl! BTW I had already packed the cute belt I was going to wear with this-the one in the photo is not one I would wear with this dress!
I decided to put in 2 waist darts in the front and the back. The first thing I needed to do was locate the waist by tying a piece of elastic around my waist and letting it settle. Once I did that I simply drew my lines for the length of the darts. The back darts are a bit shorter below the waist than the front darts. In total I took in about 3 inches at the waist.
I made the darts fairly long so that the taper was subtle. The fabric was difficult to see markings on so I ended up thread tracing my marks.
I know my photos in this post are pretty bad! But you can see the curve now at the waist. I wanted it to be subtle-I think I achieved that.
I think the back view shows the shape even better. If I could only do better selfies I would show you the dress on me with the right belt. It’s really a cute dress and with a bit of shape put into it-I think I’ll get a lot of use out of it. I love that neckline and the exposed zipper in the back.
I wore it to the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ 25th Anniversary Dinner-my Target dress! I’ll also be taking it with me to Maine when I see my son.
I wish there was a Selfie School for Geriatrics!
What a great transformation! The perfect travel dress. A custom dress from Tar-jay, fun!
Thanks Rock Star! It is indeed the perfect travel dress.
LOL! An adventure, eh Jenny? I thought it didn’t look too bad “as is” — hanging straight — but I’m sure those darts you added polished it up quite a bit. Looking forward to conference photos with you wearing it! :-)
Oh it really was baggy and on my short body it made me look dumpy. I didn’t get any photos of it at conference
The dress looks great! After all, ready-mades are for a generic body; customizing them is a great way to go!
Thanks Robin-i feel so much better in it after it was shaped.
Simple and great redo. I love the comment about selfies for geriatrics , probably because I really need the class.
Seriously Linda if someone offered a selfie school I would go!
(A) Jenny, you couldn’t look dumpy if you tried; (B) the makeover of the dress does improve it greatly. Your vision of what to do with it gives me inspiration to look beyond what RTW has to offer. My mother-in-law NEVER bought RTW she didn’t alter and improve on whether it was change the neckline or just change the hemline. It is a talent I always admired in her. She was still doing that well into her mid 90’s. Thank you for showing us all your many talents.
Thank you Marcia-but you know where I learned to alter RTW-Anita! Shw has the vision to transform anything!
I want to see YOU wearing the dress with darts. I think I can use darts on a couple of items. :-)
I’ll posting a photo soon- just never like my own photos! Darts really can transform- those darts took 10 lbs off my look.
I’ll posting a photo soon- just never like my own photos! Darts really can transform- those darts took 10 lbs off my look.
Jenny, please come to my house and help me with MY wardrobe! I am notorious for buying clothes that would look great on me IF I made a few minor adjustments, which never get made, so they languish in my closet unworn until I sneak them out to the curb on the day the AmVets come for donations! Your dress looks fantastic. Now that you’ve tweaked it, you should consider cloning it — it looks very comfortable AND versatile.
Thanks Rebecca Grace! You would be surprised how easy it is to add a nip and a tuck here and there. I hope you try a few alterations on your own to fix those “almost” items in your closet. I thought about cloning this and realized that a clone of this one would have to be in a knit. I love the neckline and exposed zipper in back.
Jenny,
I admire your creativity and the way you visualized what was needed to improve that dress, and make it happen.
Since January I’ve been searching for the perfect mother of the groom dress. It will be an outdoor wedding at 5pm in September in Scottsdale, AZ, so I’m thinking about the heat… Each time I think I’ve found ‘the one’, after trying it on I get that deer in the headlights feeling in the dressing room and beat feet out of there, as quickly as possible… Thanks for your inspiration, I’m heading out again this weekend for another try. You’ve inspired me!!!
Hi Carol;
Oooo-Mother of the Groom! I don’t know if you ever watch What Not to Wear but they are always talking that most of what we buy needs tailoring to fit properly. I hope you found your dress and maybe it does need a little bit of improvements here and there-then it really becomes yours. Good luck! Let me know what you find.