Altering the flare of a fit and flare.

BrieN

Has anyone here ever had the skirt of a fit and flare dress altered? I'm tempted to at least modify the bottom half of a couple of dresses to mske them less A line. Curious if that's an unusual alteration.

9 years ago

General

7 replies

Latest reply was from

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I've not done that with a dress, but I sure have had the thought while shopping this spring and seeing SO many flared skirts. I hope some of our alteration-savvy members chime in.

9 years ago

Anonymous

Yes, I've often done this alteration Brie, it's reasonably straight forward. You will have to re-stitch parts, or all of the hem as you have to stitch right down through it and will need to unpick the hem first. Has the skirt of the dress got just the two side seams or are there multiple seams?

9 years ago

BrieN

Veteran

Thanks Diane!
Two dresses- one with just the side seams, one with a seam in the back as well as side seams, and pockets sewn into the side seams.

I wish I could find skirt and dress silhouettes that are more than pencil but less than A line. I guess that's a "straight skirt"?

9 years ago

BrieN

Veteran

Diane, does the alteration make a big difference?

9 years ago

Anonymous

Yes, in theory, you should be able to get the silhouette that you want, so long as you're not starting with skirts that are really full. If the seam down the back of the one dress is on the straight grain and not flared than it sounds like you just need to deal with the side seams on both dresses. Where you will get a bit of difficulty is the pockets which may need to be unpicked out. Maybe your best bet is to hand baste down the seams to see if you like the effect and if it doesn't cause any diagonal drag lines. You see, straighter skirts usually have a bit of a dart at the waist line to create tummy shape, like on an ordinary straight skirt and without those you may not get a sleek enough fit. Give it a go with basting first and just keep trying a little more each time to get narrower.

9 years ago

BrieN

Veteran

Excellent information. I can baste with the best of them but will hand off the dress for final alteration. With the 1st dress I feel like even a couple of inches would make a big difference

9 years ago

Anonymous

This is great information. Thank you for asking the question and Diane for her answer.

9 years ago

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