Joy's Bridesmaid Dress

This bridesmaid's dress of deep turquoise dupioni silk was originally worn in a wedding 5 years ago. The dress was given to Joy, who needed a solid colored bridesmaid's dress. But the bride wanted each attendant to add some color. That's where I came in.

As a quilter, alterations are rare but I don't mind taking a stab at it. I have tons more confidence with quilt making, that's for sure! I procrastinate when I lack confidence so I had to mull this over and visualize how it was going to go down before I started ripping seams. I took lots of photos to remember the original look!

I removed 2" from the length of the bodice and took out the zipper.

After reattaching the bodice to the skirt and removing some of the fullness near the top of the skirt, I shortened the zipper and sewed it back into place. Then I prepared a ruffled strip of raspberry organza, which was layered on top of a black organza strip to frame the bright color.

 

The fabric has a nice shimmer that adds a touch of elegance and class to the already fine fabric this dress is made of. 

 

The most time consuming aspect of this project was gathering the ruffle and adjusting it to the skirt of the dress.

Here's the result, with just a bit of color showing at the hem. When Joy tried it on, she was delighted with her "party dress".

Copyright ©2013, Sharon Baggs