04/18/2026
This one was for Alane! She would not have turned down this challenge.
Three weeks ago, a bride was in the dressing room at the cleaners when I walked in. She says, "Its okay if you can't do it. I've had five people tell me no already." Oh no...they were planning a wedding for October, but the fiancé is deploying for a year in May. They just found out and moved everything up to April 25th. So she had to go buy a dress.
I had to break it to her that it was too small in the back because there was no way I could make that gap close. And, there were holes in the mesh already. I told her I'd make something work, but wasn't sure what it would be. Her mom decided to drive an hour to delivery her boxed wedding dress to me in case I could use something from it.
Three days later we met again and talked about my idea and made a plan. She also wanted the long sleeves shortened to half sleeves. Instead of hemming the dress three or four inches in the front, she said she'd get some chunky shoes to raise her up.
Fast forward to tonight, the plan came together. I cut the appliques off some of the mesh and made it come to a point in the back. I used the appliques from the sleeves to make the edges and cover up a couple small holes. I cut a piece off of mom's dress and made straps to go across the back to help hold up her shoulders. Then covered it with more appliques left over from the sleeves. A simple bustle was also added.
She came tonight. I told her she was leaving with the dress even if we had to stay till midnight. She put it on. I pinned a couple places that needed adjusted. 45 minutes later, she had her last fitting. The back looked 10 times better than what we started with, the shoulders stayed up, and she was happy.