Two Too Short No More

After the annoyance of the last dress (I'm still considering my options for what to do with it--I like too many of the fabrics to want to just donate it like I usually do with dud projects), I was happy to have the idea of adding length to some dresses that I liked, but were a bit too short for comfort.  That seemed like something that would be quick, easy, and greatly improve the wearability of the dresses in question.

And it worked! 

First was a dress I made a few months ago, which was limited in length by the amount of fabric I had.  I thought I'd added enough of the accent fabric to make it long enough, and, at first, it seemed like I had, but, no--even with my short legs, the dress was a bit too...youthful...for me.

After I had ripped up a lot of what remained of that accent fabric, for the failed patchwork dress, I realized I could have used it to add another layer of ruffle on the previous, much-liked dress.  Fortunately, I had, in the efforts to find fabrics that seemed suitable for that failed project, unearthed some forgotten light blue gingham that could work instead.

 

The light blue gingham that was on the dress already was a smaller scale, but I didn't let that deter me.

I made it the same width as the upper skirt, so there was no gathering necessary.  Side seams were done french, because I didn't want to change the brown serger thread.  The hem was sewn with the quarter inch hem roller.  I sewed the new layer at the same seam where the previous two had been attached.  Fast, easy, and the dress doesn't feel quite so aggressively like a 1990s riot grrrl babydoll dress revival attempt.

The other rehabilitated dress is from late 2023.  Note that the write up blithely talks about shortening it by six inches, and that being fine because I'm also short.  It was not fine, although I do suspect that, even though I'm pretty sure I pre-laundered the fabric, it may have continued to shrink for a few washes.  For whatever reason, it felt more like a generous tunic length than a short dress length.  I did wear other things under it, but I wanted it to be a dress.

When I found the fabric at the thrift store a few weeks ago, I decided to get the floral interlock even though it wasn't perfectly my aesthetic, and it inspired this project because I thought it would be highly amusing to use it to extend this dress, because both fabrics have a very distinct Early 1990s Aesthetic.

They went together even better than I expected.

 

I had drawn the 6"-shorter lines directly on the pattern tissue, so I used that to cut the additional pieces, with the front piece on the fold and the back with a center seam.  I cut the hem off of the dress, right at the stitch line, before sewing the new part on with a 5/8" seam allowance, and it also got a 5/8" hem.  The total length is now 35"--since I absolutely know that I did prewash the additional fabric, I hope it will stay at 35".  I'll find out whenever it gets cold enough to make a long sleeve knit dress practical again, whenever in the unforeseeable future that may be...