Easter Dress

Happy Easter! This is my Easter dress. It's a lovely green J. Crew bias-cut dress handed down from a friend. I love how the bias drape makes my hips look slim and proportionate! When I got the dress, it fit like this:

It was hard to get a photo on myself, but know that it was very gappy around the bust. I definitely wouldn't have bought a dress this ill-fitting, but I wanted to try my hand at making it fit. As is often the case with dresses, the fit was perfect from the waist down but too big above the waist. The right thing to do would have been to take the waistband off of the dress, take out the zipper, make the waistband smaller toward the top, and put the zipper back in. But I wanted to make easy-to-reverse alterations that would preserve the original dress in case I decided I couldn't make it work. So I made three darts, one at the center front and one on each side back where the cup comes in. They take out about 2 inches total around the top of the waistband, and they make the dress wearable for me. The front dart also had the effect of making the neckline a little higher by sewing part of the cups together.

The neckline is still more plunging than my usual, and when I was on my bike, it was borderline scandalous. I also feel like when I stand up the waistband is too loose and when I sit down it's too tight but I feel like the halter needs to be tightened. I'm not sure how to go about fixing this. I might make the side darts less tight or eliminate them altogether and do everything in the front dart. Or I might sew in a camisole-like piece at the center front for more modesty. I'm going to Easter dinner tonight with friends, and I'll see how the dress stands up to the motions of sitting and eating and whether I feel too immodest. It might end up being a dress I only wear with a wrap or sweater or to events where I will be on my feet most of the time.