So that pretty silk new dress that I got last week? Ruined on the second wear. I wore it all day last week at a conference where I was standing up, sitting down, etc. and it was fine. Not too tight and not pulling, and utterly comfortable. (It actually looks tighter than it is in this photo because it was taken at the end of a long day where I had been sitting - those are crease lines more than anything.)

Then today I wore it to work and halfway through the day the front center seam, right at the low thigh, just shredded. Not ripped - it didn't happen all of a sudden when I sat down or stood up or anything - but shredded, except for the inner lining. It's a 3 inch long hole. I am so crushed.

Fortunately Nordstrom, with their stellar customer service, isn't giving me a hard time at all though I already took the tags off and wore it once. They will accept a return or will do any alterations necessary, and credit the alteration cost back to me. However, I'm not sure if the tear CAN be mended without making the dress too tight to move comfortably in, and thus prone to tearing again. There are no more dresses in my size, or even close. I haven't visited Nordstrom's alterations department yet since the mishap just occurred today, but I'm not very optimistic.

The other alternative is that since the rip is very low, perhaps I could have them alter the dress into a tunic or a blouse. But do I really want an almost-$80 blouse? That's expensive even for a dress for me (even though the dress would have been almost $220 at full retail price.)

If repairing the dress won't leave it wearable for me, what do you think that I should do?

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(The bright spot to the day is that I took the plunge on the pair of glasses that Angie and Maya, and some others, had liked best on my Lenscrafters glasses search thread. When I tried them on in the store with my contacts in, so I could actually see what they looked like, I decided that the black was not too dark due to the contrasting inner white frame, and I liked them much better than the other frames. My mom changed her mind and voiced her approval once she saw them on me in person, too. Thank you for your help ladies! They'll make a fun switch from my burgundy/turquoise pair.)