BusWoman's Holiday/Ideas for Altering Garments

I gave up on the after-storm mess, and ran off to see DMa for then weekend. Spent most of it cleaning her place, but that's another housemaid's story... Mayhap you remember I mentioned that her figure was normal, (great legs!!) except for a pregger-looking belly. The problem has been finding clothes for her which fit well; she dug her heels in and refused to shop the maternity stores. OTOH, she has a closet full of such stylish, pretty garments, all of which fit her 8 months ago, before her gall bladder op. We had a looong fitting session, and I think I can alter most of her clothes so that she can wear them. If she had increased in girth all over, there would be no way to salvage these clothes; a larger size wardrobe would have been on order. On the bright side, we have talked her into getting x rays to see if her surgeon left one of those great big sea sponges inside of her, because that is what it looks like. Few manufactured garments have seams big enough to let out. When altering a garment, sometimes all you need do is let each seam out 1/4 to 3/8 inch, and you have increased the sizing quite a bit. Most of her clothes have narrow serged seams, which precludes any seam release, so I have to look to other methods. (Problem solving's finest hour s s s s.) A few of the tops/blouses are long enough, or are worn over an under-blouse, so simply slitting the side seams, opening them approx. 5 inches, gives the needed room. This also works well with two mock-tanks attached under blouses--I simply released approx 4 to 5 inches on the sides of the mock tank. The seams must be serged closed. (You'd need to open the seams less on a short top, as you wouldn't want skin showing when you raised your arms.) One short-sleeved, vee necked black linen top is deeply cut, with a co-ordinated dotted print bib-sort of insert which buttons inside the neckline for modesty. A matching dotted print skirt is overly-long, so I plan to shorten it. I will use the trimmed off hem as an insert for the top, from side seam underarm to hem. If there is enough width in the trimmed off portion, I may build this gusset as an inverted pleat, which will give it more of a deliberate design detail. Because I am using a length of the cut off hem, I'll be working against the normal grain placement making this gusset, but I have found that grain hardly matters when one is mounting a major salvage operation with no extra fabric. A beautiful cream colored knit top has a front opening placket under the buttons. I'll find some similar knit (matching the color will be more important than matching the knit weave), and make a second under-placket, then move the buttons to the edge of the existing under-placket. All together, this will add approx 4 to 4 & 1/2 inches across the front. If needed, I can slightly angle the line of buttons, or even mount them just inside the seam of the new under-placket for a bit more room. A delicious hot raspberry pink faux suede skirt (elastic half-band at the back, side zip opening), has two very deep front darts. I ripped the shaped facing from the inside, released the darts, (over 2" deep apiece), and will be able to let out about 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the side seams, starting just below hip level up to the waist. This will also give over 4 inches towards a better fit. The dart shaping is not needed over the belly, and she always wears a top or blouse on the outside, so the smooth roundness of the skirt fit won't be seen. I will have to look for a fabric to make an inner w/band extension. I'll interface the extension, of course. I like the fabric blend--it has about 4% lycra, the stretch of which adds a degree of comfort to this dressy outfit. Finding width across the front of the jacket is going to be a trick. It has a jewel neckline, with a folded placket running down the front, hidden button closure beneath. The facing is nice and deep; I calculate that I can cut across the top of the front facing, release the hidden placket stitching, and open the placket across the front. I may just remove the whole front facing piece, and buy another length to cut a new front facing, since the altered front will have a different shape. I'll save the facing; what I am trying to do is alter most of these clothes so that they can be re-constructed if she loses the tummy. The major irritation is the lone buttonhole at the top of the neck, which pierces all four layers. It poses a fly in my altering ointment, but I will find some way to hide it. It appears that I'll have to remove all of the buttonhole stitching, open the placket, close the buttonholes, then sew a couple of decorative elements atop the closed buttonholes--either buttons, (or braid, if I can color match it to the garment.) This one will be a plan-as-I-go alteration. "WHY", you ask yourself: "Why doesn't she simply make her Mother a new wardrobe?" "Several reasons", I reply. "The lady in question is as happy as a lark with most things she buys, yet incredibly picky when her DD tries to please her. For the sake of my sanity, I alter her readymades." I've got 16 items to alter; did another half-dozen for her a couple of weeks ago, and have a small antique chair of hers which I have yet to slipcover--the hurricane threw my schedule off. This her birthday present. Guess I'd better get busy, as I want to take most of it back to her next weekend. Cea