Regalia Alteration

Christmas is almost here, so let's have a festive post!  And what could be more festive than dance... in a dress covered in ribbons! 

A few months back, my client was all set to go to Powwow when she realized that her ribbon dress, part of her regalia, was a bit harder to get into than she remembered.  The ribbon dress is a simple dress that is pulled on over the head.  It can be a T-tunic style, or constructed with a yoke.  The problem in this case was that the area under the arms was tight.  If you have mobility issues (like a frozen shoulder) or a little extra weight, it's hard to pull something over your head that is tight around the arms.  She wanted to be able to dress herself without getting stuck and having to call for help! 

Since the dress fit fine once it was on, I decided to simply open up a side seam and insert a zipper.  This dress has a yoke top that extends over the shoulders into cape-like sleeves.  Now, the skirt attaches to the yoke at front and back in the usual way (plus fringe), but things get interesting under the arm, where the sides of the skirt go under the cape-like sleeve. 

(I did this alteration to three dresses, but only took pictures of one.  The different fabric colors you see are a result of flash/no-flash photography: in reality, it's all one dress in the following sequence!)

First, a look at the original underarm area.  On the left of the picture (falling off my ironing board) is the yoke-cum-sleeve area. On the right you see the rectangular side panel of the skirt that is sewn all the way up to where the yoke joins the dress.  Then under the cape-like sleeve, the top of the rectangle is simply tacked to the lining.  Modesty is important in regalia: this extra tack makes the bottom of the armscye high enough to prevent indecency when the wearer raises her arms in dance. 

So I ironed the seam allowances open, then took a zipper and pinned it right over the seam.  I didn't open the seam up yet; it was still sewn.

In this picture, you're looking at the inside of the seam and the inside of the zipper. 

Then I sewed the zipper in place: down one side, reinforce the bottom, and up the other. 

Using a seam ripper, I opened the seam up, starting above where I'd reinforced the bottom of the zipper. 

Below, you can see the zipper opened and closed.  I also unsewed the tack that holds the top of the rectangle to the lining of the sleeve. 

zipper open

zipper shut

Finally, I replaced the tack with a hook and eye.  I did this to the side seam on each side, so each dress got two zippers to make it easier to don. 

Below is a picture of the dress on the hanger.  We're peeking under the arm, so you can see how the construction comes together. 

Now she can get into her regalia without a struggle! 

I had never worked on Native American regalia before; it was interesting!  And colorful! 

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Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!  And if you don't, well, I hope you have the day off anyway!