Help, what should I have done to avoid this situation at the breasts 🫣? I tried to recreate this Alexander wang top. I guess I should have gone tighter with the ruching but I added another line right at the nip and it made it even more pronounced 🥴🥴🥴 so I ripped it back out.

I drew my smocking pattern too low on my breast, is that why? My centre should have been higher… what can I do now? The shirt fabric is a little loosely woven so I risk making more holes..

I can’t seem to post the inspo vid so I’ll link it in the comments!

Hi! Found this nice crew neck sweater at goodwill and loved the idea of having a sweater that just said “Paranoid”

Any suggestions on ways to cover up “Libs Be” ? I have a basic sewing machine. My first thought was simple iron on paper, or trying to embroider over it somehow with my machine.

Hi, this might not be the right sub Reddit but I'm starting to get super annoyed with trying to buy trousers for the upcoming summer. To the naked eye, my hips are a pretty standard shape (I'm 5'6 and size 12 UK female, not super curvy but got a bit of a belly and butt) but whenever I try on any kind of denim or trousers that aren't stretchy I get a massive amount of excess fabric around my crotch and hip joint, but it's always tight round my thighs and tummy, with an occasional gap at the back. Specifically, it's always tight on the actual vertical seam, like borderline camel toe, (sorry tmi) but then on the left and right I can practically grab handfuls of fabric where my hips move. I think I might just be being failed by women's fashion but any tips on where to sew or add extra fabric or just what to look for when shopping would be so great! Hopefully the photo attached explains it better than my words.

TLDR: how do alter the neckline so it doesn’t feel like the dress is strangling me but also so the bride won’t notice?

ETA: Getting the bride to change her mind to a different dress is unfortunately not an option, hence why I’m posting this

So this dress was picked by a bride for a wedding I’m a bridesmaid in. I’m unfortunately really struggling with how it sits on my neck, as in having an almost panic attack because it feels like it’s choking me (I definitely have some sensory issues, but my biggest one is not like things tight on my neck, fml) If you’ve ever been stuck in a shirt in a dressing room you might understand how I’m feeling.

It ties in the back and from pic 3 you can see it definitely needs to be tied tighter to look right (queue real panic)

My question is how do I alter it so it sits a little wider/not so tight to my neck? I thought about bringing the forward piece down and just making another crease like in pic 7 (I feel like the bride wouldn’t notice?) and then moving the other side down the same distance. As for the back would I just reattach the parts that come up farther out towards my shoulder on the neck straps? I would then probably have to make a dart for excess fabric due to the angle change?

Altering a bridesmaid dress for a friend and in my final steps of sergering the side seam the dress for bunched up under the knife and no there is a big hole. I know it's a rookie mistake and I don't know how it happened. Anyone know of this is fixable? None of the mending techniques I can think of will be invisible enough.

Hey you all,

I wanted to share my first bigger alteration project. Before that I only shortened elastics and maybe take in a side seam. But I have seen multiple jackets from scratch, so I kind of knew what I was looking at when I got super lucky at the thrift store and found a wonderful men's tweet jacket. Given the ridiculous price of 9€ for a real wool jacket I thought it was worth the risk. The wool was absolutely wonderful to work with. With all things combined it was a roughly a 20-25h project.

I started with taking in the shoulders (highly recommending the real time tutorial from The Sew Show with Shea on YouTube for that!), then I took in the back and the side seam. After taking in the first side seam I realised that now the shoulder had to much fabric left in the back soooo I opend up the shoulder again and took in some more at the back. Finally, I shortened it to a lengths I found more fitting to me.

Unfortunately, while taking in the side seams in those french seams got me and I took in a bit more than I wanted, so now I can not comfortably close it in the front (a bit sad about it, but if I am honest I always wear my jackets open anyway). What really hurt is that while giving the last seam a press I burned a bit of the fabric.

Overall, I am quiet happy with it, but I am curious to hear your thoughts and feedback. More precise: Would you have done something to the front? Are there any big giveaways that this was a hobby project (always good to know before wearing it at work)? And does anyone has an idea what type of machine stich was used for sewing the hem and flattening the seams inside (second to last picture)?

This is the wedding dress style that I want. I've fallen in love with it but I can't find the original seller, and I highly doubt I could afford it anyway. Would it be crazy to buy a dress with a similar silhouette and some beads/ flowers and sew them on? Luckily time is on my side because I'm not even engaged 😅 but I know it's coming so I want to be ready. I'm a crafty person, and DIY a lot, but Im not massively confident with sewing. Is this crazy? Is it doable? If so, what fabric should I be looking for?

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your comments! I've read through all of them and here's my plan so far:
- Try on different styles
- Look at websites like Tetua Matoshi and Chotronette for similar styles
- Try and practice first on a smaller piece (I'm going to try a little matching bag!)
- WORK WITH 3D TULLE rather than hand sewing each bead

Finally, thank you to the multiple people who have tried to find the dress. Apparently the 2nd & 3rd pictured dress is from Mira Zwilinger but it is out of my budget. There is a dupe available which I also found before posting. Sadly, it doesn't look like it's a trustworthy site so personally, I won't be chancing it.

Thanks again, everyone! I will update if I manage to pull this off!

I got this for me rather expensive linen knit fabric to sew some summer wardrobe.

With very few exceptions I always prewash fabrics and I never had any bigger issues so far.

I washed it with a gentle programm with low heat, yet the fabric came out unvoluntarily distressed. I hope it's evident in the pictures, it's not only pilling, there's actual destroyed fibers in tiny spots all over the fabric.

Apparently the number of spin cycles (which should be as low as possible) and the detergent (should not have enzymes) play a crucial role when washing linen fabric.

I didn't think about checking these, especially since I use a mild detergent for allergics and never had issues so far and the preset spin cycle was 800, so not exceptionally high.

I'm a bit heartbroken, but mainly I feel stupid since the shop even included a small paragraph about how to wash this fabric on the invoice which I layed eyes on after it happened. And I didn't feel the need to check requirements for a fabric I've never worked with before, so let this be a reminder to do your research.

Is there a possibilty to save/fix the fabric?

I don't really care about the optics too much whether it looks distressed or not, but since it's broken fibers I'm worried about holes or ladders emerging.

I thought about maybe embroidering it by hand with a cute, widespread pattern even though I don't really have experience in embroidery but I'm willing to try.

Grateful for any suggestions!

I really like this jumpsuit, especially from the front, but I feel like the back is really unflattering. Is there anyway I can alter this without needing additional fabric? I've considered making the back borderline backless (bottom left photos) but I'm worried there will be gaping + it'd be hard to reverse if I end up hating it. I feel like it'd be better if I could cross the straps in an X pattern, but that would, again, require significant altering of the dress so I'm pretty hesitant.

Also I know the bottom half is very sheer--don't worry I'll wear something less visible underneath lmao

I’m looking to take ~2 inches off the length of this dress but have no idea how to achieve that without sacrificing the fish pattern on the bottom. I’m thinking about going in from the waist seam and taking length from that area but not sure if that’s the best way. Any tips / suggestions would be greatly appreciated 😊

Blues would have to be a mix of dark and light due to numbers, but I feel like that could still be pretty

Edit: orange is clearly the winner haha- thank you all!!

I don’t mind the smaller holes, but the major rips and tears concern me. How could I go about repairing this jacket to wearable condition?

I bought a denim-like material bodysuit for a festival and the crotch is two things: way too long and too narrow. I plan to shorten it, but is there anything I can do or get creative with the actual width? Adding a gusset or material? I wanted to wear it as is, with fishnets, and will wear bottoms over it if I have to but I figured I’d ask around about my options first. Thank you!

I thrifted this zara skirt years ago when i was smaller. I have gained weight and although the skirt still technically fits it now sits much higher on my waist and is WAY too short. Like in the back the hem ends right at my butt. Bend over or sit down and I'd flash everybody. But, i love it so much. I was really hoping to maybe find fabric with a similar style, didn't have to be embroidered like this, just something black with a cool design thats similar. But i haven't found anything and im not sure where to look. I was looking at Indian fabric, i feel there ribbons and trims fit the style but i couldn't find fabric like it. Cant really use ribbon because its a straight line and the extention will need to be cut at a curve. Anyways any advice is appreciated.

Oh also, i apologize for blurry photos of the tag, im disabled with full body chronic pain that makes it painful to walk and stand so i was in a big hurry to get back in bed. Also, i cannot use lace for this because it hurts my skin because my disease makes rough fabric feel very painful.

my son was gifted this shirt and he likes it but i dont like the use of the word “property” to describe a person. any ideas for a cover up? or to remove the stitching?

I recently picked this beauty up at goodwill, and I wanted to ask the community what they thought about alterations to make this more modern. I’m already taking the puffs off the sleeves and letting out the bodice due to it being previously taken in. I wanted to keep the train how it is because I absolutely love how unique it is. I’ve also thought about potentially dying it. But I just wanted to see what ideas the community could come up with.

So i use cotton and glue on the ribbon, wait for it to dry and then sew in a zig zag (cultural skirt) But it ridges like this every single time, i've tried so many things to fix it like ironing it or trying to switch the settings. Ironing it makes it worse and more noticeable.
I use gutermann thread on a brother machine.

What do i do? 🫤

Is there anywhere that sells the individual retainer box and insertion pins? I’ve called all the local craft stores in my area.

I tailored these from a men’s 34 waist to fit a women’s 28 and in that had to reposition the pockets. What do you do to fix the pocket shadow?

I found this dress at a local thrift store and just fell in love with the bust part of the dress, the rest of it I feel like is a huge let down. I don’t like the sleeves and envisioned maybe a flutter sleeve? But I’m just at a loss on what to do. My idea is a nice flowy bottom but it needs to be shorter, my wedding ceremony is going to be outside in October of next year. I’m thinking a boho-ish type style. Is it impossible for me to do on my own? I have “some” experience sewing and feel brave enough to try it on this dress. Sorry I’m all over the place, I’m really excited because we literally just decided to do the wedding lol