Wedding Gown to Cocktail Dress

Just a quick post, today!  Sometimes it's fun to make a little change that makes a big difference: this wedding dress was quite a statement five years ago, but had spent too long in the closet, and the lovely lady who owned it wanted to take it out for some more events. 

BEFORE

AFTER

The dress was very simply constructed, with none of the fluffy stuff, elastic, boning, or foam that's so often found inside wedding dresses.  It was made in two layers, with the red ruffle at the bottom attached to the lining.  My alteration was in several steps:

1. measured and marked the desired new length.  I measured from the armpit to the new bottom and wrote that number down. 
2. cut both layers shorter. 
3. removed the red ruffle to wash and iron it.  Its dye ran while washing, so I made a note to tell my client the dress was still dry-clean only. 
4. spot-cleaned the white dress (armpits, back of halter collar).  I also washed the white parts I'd cut off, and gave them back clean and ironed. 
   
5. attached the red ruffle to the lining again, measuring from armpit to bottom of ruffle and making sure it matched the number from step 1.  Since the new hem was a smaller circumference than the original, I ended up with extra ruffle fabric, which I returned to my client. 
   
6. Pinned the white outer layer in two positions, taking a picture of each, and emailed my client to see which she preferred.  The first option showed a little red, the second showed more red.  She chose the second option. 
7. Hemmed the outer layer. 
   

DONE!