Demoralising dresses that didn't fit.

I've been training my left foot on the sewing machine pedal. Both the lobster print and Lost at Sea dresses are finished, but only the lobster is wearable.

Foolishly both dresses were a size too big, and too long in the torso and didnt realize until they were finished.

The lobster: after taking out the zip and removing the skirt i was able to alter the bodice enough to wear it. I had to increase all the vertical darts & the back almost appears to be princess seamed. It also needed to be shortened 2cm across the back, and 4cm for most of the front. After reattaching the skirt + zip its wearable tho not ideal. I forgot to add a loop in the waist seam to hang my work security pass from, and fixed that after wearing it a couple times. I need to get a decent photo or two and post them.

The Lost at Sea is a sorrier case. The same bodice issues as the lobster, but similar fixes haven't helped enough. So disappointing that it is still a size too big. As the ship motif is on the back, I didnt want to incease the vertical darts as per the lobster's back as it would break up. The sleeves are too long, and I could tell there was something hinky with the collar area. A second opinion was the collar isn't too small, the neckline is too filled in by the curve and it needs to be a sharper V. Pluss a size too big.

The thought of removing the zip and skirt a second time was bad enough. I can shorten the sleeves about 4cm easily, and gritted my teeth at the idea of taking out the sleeves and recutting the sides down a size. Where my unpicking stalled was the neckline. The buttonholes are already made so I couldn't finesse the new shape to be what I need. So I uttered some profanities, tossed the dress across the room and ordered more yardage from the states from the same seller. Hopefully its a close enough dye batch cos I'm making a new bodice & collar, reusing the existing skirt & shortened sleeves. Hoping it arrives in the next week so I can wear it soon.

Edited to add that I just gave myself the horrors cos I couldnt remember if I'd changed my address on etsy, and there's just enough time for it to already be on the way back to the states from my old address. Heart attack avoided cos its heading to my new home and it may have sat in Sydney from Monday to 4:58pm on Friday doing nothing, but I should get it next week.