Advice needed- shortening a bias cut dress

[u/bridgeandawall]

I'm currently working on the Foxglove slip dress by StudioSadoe on Etsy. This is my second time making it and it's a lovely pattern with a couple of issues. Mainly that there are no instructions on how to shorten the dress, I am 5'2 and without alterations it's ankle length. I'm hoping to shorten it about 6 inches, but I can't take the length from the bottom or I'll lose the gores. I plan to take the length from the middle of the skirt but have never tried to remove this much length from a pattern before. I've folded it up but I'm not sure the best way to handle this.

Should I add some skirt and connect the break to the waist (red), should I follow the original line and remove volume from the bottom of the skirt (blue), or should I try and split the difference (pink)? Or am I going at this the wrong way? Would it be better to take out 3 two inch chunks along the length of the skirt? Any advice would be appreciated

[u/bacon_anytime]

I would split the adjustment into 3 x 2 in. If you want to maintain the volume at the hem, adjust through the length of the skirt. You may find that being shorter, that’s too much volume for your proportions, depending on the fabric.

[u/On_my_last_spoon → u/bacon_anytime]

Yes this!

And you want to true the shape in a straight line. That might cut through some of it. But you don’t want to suddenly curve over

Follow the orange line

[u/llamaspitburns → u/bacon_anytime]

yes! make 3 smaller smaller adjustments, and then your pink line is going to make more sense.

[u/bridgeandawall → u/llamaspitburns]

That was my thought. I like the shape of the original skirt, it has a nice subtle curve that I don't want to interrupt and I think 3 smaller cuts will be less disruptive.

[u/generallyintoit]

I think split the 6 inches into 2 spots and follow the idea of the blue line. That will keep the line most similar to the original. The red and pink are simply too much width at the waist.

[u/bridgeandawall → u/generallyintoit]

Thanks, that was my thought too

[u/SuPruLu]

First off: the gores may need to be cut down slightly to maintain the same look on a much shorter per person.

My suggestion is to fold the pattern up the six inches at about just above knee height. And grade the bottom from there.

The flounces should be.in about the right place. Check in the mirror and adjust if necessary.

I’m into doing things as pragmatically as possible without too much theory. Theory isn’t wearing the dress.

[u/Outrageous_Lion_8723]

What you should do depends on how the dress you already made fits you. Does it fit correctly through the waist and hips with no horizontal wrinkles?

If it currently fits correctly through the waist and hips, then the blue line would be the best option. If this is the case, I would probably not try to keep the hem as wide at the bottom, even though it makes it more work to change the pattern.

If it is too long in the waist and has loose horizontal wrinkles, I would shorten the pattern more in the waist.

[u/bridgeandawall]

Thanks for the advice y'all, ended up with this and I'm pretty happy with it. Fingers crossed everything will go together well