The Prom Dress (a mini tutorial)

My sister in-law's, sister in-law (how is that for connection) is going to Prom, and she asked me if I could make her dress more comfortable for her in a modest way. Doing this is really easy, there are a number of ways to do it. I will share one way today in this mini tutorial, and another way later when I share the bridesmaids dresses I made for her sisters wedding. 

She bought a lovely dress, that was really quite perfect in every way except the fact that it had two very thin and not very supportive straps holding the top up. She wanted something more modest (but still youthful) and something that would make her feel more secure in the the top. So we came up with some wider straps that kind of add a greek goddess type feel, adding elegance coverage and support. Here is a pretty basic explanation of how I did it.

I measured from the front over the shoulder and the the back to see how long the strap needed to be, then I added a little room for hemming and sewing in place. Then I made it as wide as I wanted it to be, knowing I would be gathering it and pleating it. To do this I would figure out how wide you want it and double that.

Then turn under the edges and sew them in place. Then I sewed a basting stitch down the middle and pulled to gather. Once it was gathered how I wanted it I sewed in in place to secure.

Here is the gather sewn in place a few times.

Then I sewed the strap to the dress. I pleated the strap as I sewed it in place. Since this dress had a lining I was sure to sew to the lining and not through the front so you could not see the stitch from the front. (yes I did that by hand) 

(sorry the picture is so blurry)
Then I did the same to the back pleating the straps in place. I moved them pretty far over to the side so it still had a fairly open back and so the straps had more of a flowing feel to them.

That's it. Now the dress is ready for prom.
Next I will share the broach I made to add to the dress.

Enjoy!