Viviana's Wedding Dress Alterations

Viviana got married last weekend!

Her dress was so gorgeous! it was an ivory lace and tule dress with a tan lining. She wanted to add more lace to the neckline and hem the dress to be a shorter, even-length hem. 

The dress before any alterations, hem pinned to new length

The neckline detail with the tule extending up to the collar bone

Adding Lace was a fun, time consuming change. I was able to use one large piece for the majority of the add-on with individual flowers added along the existing lace and the neckline edge.

I pinned all of the lace pieces in place and spent some time perfecting it so that it looked even and beautiful. I used invisible thread to attach the lace. 

Lace pinned in place

Lace addition complete!

After the lace was completed, it sat untouched for a few days because I knew I would want to do the whole hem at once and not have to do it in 30 minute increments. 

One day while Peter slept, I cut the hem... TEN INCHES TOO SHORT! 

I don't know how I made such a huge mistake or where my mind was, but I caught it after I had made a two food long cut through both layers of the lining skirt. 

As soon as I realized what I had done, Peter woke up and I didn't get a chance to fix it that day. Spending a few days thinking about it and brainstorming how to fix it helped in the long run because I was not frantic and I knew exactly how I was going to patch it.

My sister-in-law came to watch Peter so I could spend half a day sewing. First thing I did was baste some extra fabric from the hem onto the hole so I could make sure it was still laying flat. 

The dreaded hole, temporarily based shut with extra fabric from hem as reinforcement

Next, I used some more extra fabric and I practiced a few different techniques and stitches to see what would hide the scar best. 

The did a machine stitch on the underneath layer, but hand stitched the top layer because it was the most hidden. It took quite a long time, but it turned out great and hardy noticeable. Once both layers were patched, I hemmed the skirt and closed up the skirt. All of the patch work is concealed between the two layers, giving it a pretty good finish.

The hem is even all the way around the dress and I top stitched to give the edge a nice crisp line. 

Lining hemmed! Ready to hem tule layers

Cutting the tule was very simple because there is no finish at the hem. I went back and forth between handing it up to laying it out on the floor to get the perfect, even length. 

The finished project:

Bet you can't even locate the patch!

Viviana looked amazing in her dress! It is such a gorgeous dress, and, despite the colossal mistake I made, everything else turned out perfect and the patch is almost impossible to spot, even to someone who knows exactly where it is.