5-min.DIY Archives | Life is Beautiful

5 Minutes DIY: How to make a pleated dress more fitted

October 26, 2015~ SEWING

Don’t you hate finding a dress you absolutely love and when you try it on, the fit just isn’t quiet right? I fell in love with this dress the moment I saw it and when I put it on, the waistband was too loose. I knew it would be a quick alteration so that didn’t stop me from purchasing it. I tell my friends they should all learn how to do quick alterations on their clothes so that it fits them better, instead of putting an item of clothing back in the rack in disappointment. Pleats are one of the easiest to alter, so don’t get intimidated!

So the waistband is just a bit big.

This is a better, more flattering fit!

So we want to make the waist look like from before

to an after like this.

And it’s very simple!

After:

Photos by Emily Cooper Photography

Instructions:

1. Try on the dress and stand in front of a mirror.

2. Pinch the sides with your fingers and measure how much you need to take in. (I took in 1′ from each side)

3. Flip the dress inside out and staring at the armpit, sew 1″ in to the end of the waistband. Repeat on the other side.

Estimated time: 10 mins.

Budget: $0.00

Skill level: A confident beginner

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DIY: Make a Dress a Longer Length

October 5, 2015~ SEWING

I LOVE this lace dress. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now but I love lace and embroidery, it is so feminine and classy. But when I got it, everything was perfect except it was just a few inches too short to wear with my LDS garments. GAH!!! But I loved it so much so I went to the fabric store to see if there was any lace trim that was very similar in design and color with no luck. So I got another one of the same dress to use it to lengthen. I knew I could use the second dress I’d be cutting to make it into something, so I felt it was justified. But I would never purchase another of the same dress just to cut 3″ of the bottom to lengthen the other dress and throw it away.

I put on the dress and went in front of the mirror to see how many inches I wanted to lengthen, then cut the bottom of the other dress and sewed it onto the bottom of the original dress. So easy and simple!

After:

Purchase the lace dress here.

Stay tuned to see what I did with the other dress I cut the bottom of! ;)And don’t you love these after pictures? Thank you to Emily Cooper Photography for the beautiful image, she was amazing! I did 7 outfit pictures with her in one hour and wow, I have so much more respect for fashion bloggers who do outfit photos on a weekly basis like this. I barely grabbed 7 outfits of clothes and when I got in the car, I remembered I need to also think of shoes to match each outfit and jewelry and handbags! You’ll notice in later pictures that I switch between two pairs of shoes and I’m not wearing any handbags and minimal jewelry. 😀

What you’ll need:

-2 of the same dress

-Matching thread

-A needle or a sewing machine

-Scissors

Estimated time: 5-10 mins.

Budget: $100

Skill level: A very basic beginner

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DIY: Adding Sleeves to a Sleeveless Dress

September 21, 2015~ SEWING

I attended Alison’s Cabana Boogie dance party and the theme was tropical and I found this perfect dress for only $20! I paid $6 for expedited shipping which is still such an awesome deal for $26. Since I am LDS and wear the garments, I don’t wear sleeveless clothes(if you ask me, this dress is by no means immodest and I think shoulders are one of the prettiest body parts in a woman! Wearing garments is something I should pray about and gain a personal testimony of, don’t tell anyone I said that, ha!), and oh my goodness, I just realized my hairy arm pits! Oh shoot! hahaha, I did not photoshop that out, but oh well, that’s the real me folks, just accept me for who I am! ;D

I planned on taking the sides in and using that extra fabric as cap sleeves but I wans’t able to find the time to do that so literally 20 mins. before I had to leave, I frantically looked in my closet to see if there was a top that was a green color that I could use to add as sleeves and I came across this top! I put it next to the dress and it matched really well, so I knew this top would have to do! The pleats ended up working out really well with the dress since it matches the design of the leaves.

I wasn’t aware the second layer of the ruffle was tucked in! GAH!

Here’s a better picture. The sleeves in the back look like little wings, don’t you think?

Estimated time: 10 mins.

Budget: $0.00

Skill level: A confident beginner

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5-min. Alterations: tailor a bigger size dress in less than 5 mins.

July 6, 2015~ Etc.

5 minute alterations: tailor a bigger size dress in less than 5 mins.

I am starting a series called “5-minute alterations” that are super quick and simple! I alter about 60% of my clothes to make it more flattering to my body shape and it’s usually done 30 minutes before I am about to wear that certain piece of clothing, so these are probably not what a seamstress would do if you were to take it to a tailoring shop but it’s more of a shortcut, and it works and looks great. A simple tailoring can make a huge difference and make the clothing look way more flattering but also way more expensive!

Before:

If you want the sleeves to look more finished, I would recommend cutting off the sleeves and hemming it. But if you only have 5 minutes to make the dress more flattering, just fold it! Plus, you can unfold and wear it as the original.

After: