Stories to Pass the Time: Saga of the Blue Dress

Hello, darlings! The following is a blog about two things: 1) knowing your body and 2) being daring. I was very excited to be invited to a military ball with my hubby. So, first thing's first, let's look at dresses! I was overjoyed to find awesome deals on Amazon. I thought to myself, "eh, I can send it back if I hate it." So, I didn't labor too long with it, and I got myself this dress that I thought would be perfect! Here's what it looks like. precious, right?!

Wrong. Observe.

If you are thinking to yourself, "oh, shit. That's NOOOOT gonna work", then you are thinking what I was thinking. So I prepare myself to send this horrible mess back. No problem with returns, except, they have to go to KOREA. oops. I forgot to note that when I got the awesome deal. So.... here's where the daring comes in. I decide that I can 1) send it back for half the price I bought it for or 2) I can put on my Project Runway panties and see what I can rig. Now that I've decided to rig it, I have to address WHAT changes could be made? Now here's where the body knowing comes in. I know I have boobs. Big, round, lovely ones, and that I have a nice face, and that I have a big belly and legs. So, what can I do to draw attention up to the face and boobs and away from the belly legs?

Step 1
Rip out a patch in the middle of the bodice so that I have two straps instead of a full upper bodice of the beaded part. My mother was good enough to warn me that when I cut the beaded pieces out all the beading is interconnected and all that beading was going to fall off. I didn't have the heart attack I would've had I not consulted with her. Half the beading fell off and I sewed it all back on. It looked like this.

Then I decided that if I moved the waist line up to an angled umpire waist, it would highlight the boobs, detract from the mess in the middle, and give me length. I also cut some off the height of the bodice, it was practically up to my chin. Here's the waist under construction.

Here is the finished product! I was so pleased!

And here I am! I know I need a better pic (and actually, this pic still has pins in it even though the picture above is the finished product). I just finished the hand sewing after this photo. This, ladies, is why we try on things and learn about how to dress our bodies. Same dress. Same measurements. Same me. Just (in my humble opinion) WAAAAY better for my body type. And that is the saga of the blue dress. Love to all!