Adjusting To A New Normal

This post is more of a personal journal entry for me. When I look back I might not remember doing this and I really want to remember it, crazy but I do.  Covid, whatever side you fall on, has changed the way we do things. For me, for a period of time, it changed the way I did fittings. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was just going to pause until life got back to somewhat normal again - no fittings, no alterations.  As video meetings started becoming the “new norm” for businesses and schools, I thought why not? At the very least, I thought I should give it a go to see if was even possible for me to do work this way.

To my surprise, it actually worked, not as ideal as meeting in person, but video appointments definitely made it possible for me to keep doing alterations for brides,  I met with 6 brides over the last year and a half who I needed to do at least one video fitting with. 

Last December, life was getting somewhat normal again for me - I was back to doing in person fittings, masked up.  For one bride, I had all but her final fitting in person.  Our appointment was set but then her fiance tested positive for covid.  Playing it safe, we did a porch pick up - I hung her dress on my porch and she picked it up. Unfortunately, I was not able to do a final fitting with her  to make sure everything fit the way she wanted it to.  

After trying the dress on at home, she wanted the bustle length adjusted so we met via FaceTime.

Here we are during her video appointment - her roommate is marking the point where the bustle needed to be pulled up to as I walked her through how to do it.

After the fitting, the bride dropped the dress off to me.  I made the adjustments and then delivered the dress to her.

Her bustle:

To the few brides I could not meet with in person for some or all of your fittings, thank you for trusting this process. It’s been over a year since this appointment and I am happy to be back to in person fittings.

Maybe someday I’ll have an opportunity to do work for someone who doesn’t live near me and I can offer the option of video fittings.  I don’t think I would ever have thought it was possible before the pandemic.

Thank you for reading this one! If you want to keep reading, the rest is about the other alterations made to her dress.

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Starting with the back of the dress, I needed to replace the top loop because it was too small and would not fit around the top button easily.  I had similar looping that was a very close match to what was on the dress - I love when that happens, it makes repairs so easy when I have the materials on hand.

Shown below is the piece of new looping placed over the loops on the dress - I am only replacing the top loop, notice the size difference, this smaller loop is what I’m replacing. The extra looping will be cut away.

Stitching the new loop in place over
the existing loop, temporarily

The extra loops are now cut away, leaving the
new loop (smaller loop still attached)

Small loop cut off leaving the new, larger loop

New loop fits around button much easier

The dress fit the bride beautifully.  We took in the sides of the bodice just a bit (no pictures.).  Next I shortened the front hemline from side seam to side seam.  The dress had a satin charmeuse underskirt with an appliquéd tulle overlay - the under skirt was hemmed with a narrow rolled hem and the tulle overskirt was cut to length. 

For me, it’s tricky to cut a tulle hem because you have one shot, really, to get it right - even and the correct length.  With this hem, I folded the edge to the new length, pressed the edge, then placed a piece of black fabric under the tulle so I could see the fold line and cut along this line.

The original length - the new skirt edge was going
to be cut just below the applique

New hemline, pinned and ready to be pressed

Pressing the fold line - this will be my cut line

To make the fold line (cut line) more visible, I placed a
piece of black fabric under the tulle

Cutting along fold line

New hemline

I learned a few new ways of doing things with this dress - fixing the loop and cutting the hemline.  Putting a piece of black fabric under the tulle to make the fold line more visible definitely made cutting the new hemline easier for me.  

Thanks again for reading this one, like I said in the beginning, it was more like a journal entry for me - as much as I can’t wait to get past this pandemic, to put our masks away and start hugging strangers :), I also want to remember a few things I learned during this crazy time.  Happy New Year!