Dressing Gown Refashion: Fix for Too Tight Sleeves

Have you ever found a lovely piece of clothing, but it was too small?

 

Well that was just the issue I had when I came across a beautiful, flowing, vintage coral dressing gown on one of my thrifting outings.

It was too small waisted to wrap around me, and the arms were too tight.

 

But it was only $1, I loved the color, and there was so much material, I figured I could make something work.

 

This was a project I did quite a while ago, and it being one of my first refashions, I was making it up as I went along.... which means.... I didn't bother to take a 'before' picture.

 

 

This is what it looks like now.

 

 

 

Gorgeous flowing ankle length dressing gown that I love because now it fits me!

 

And this is how I did it.

 

This dress is constructed with lots and lots of pleats...they go all the way around the waist.

So all I had to do was take out several of the pleats on either side in the front.

 

 

 

Then, to keep it from being too straight a line where I took out the pleats,

I added a single inverted box pleat on each side, like in the picture above.

 

 Lovely, flattering waist line.

 

The collar/front was pleated as well, folded over and sewn down, so when I picked that loose it was wide enough to accommodate letting out the waist.

 

 

 

 

Next, I needed to fix do something with the arms.

 

The sleeves came down to just above the elbow, a little longer than I would like for a summer robe.

 

So I came up with a solution that fixed the snugness and length.

 

I ripped out the seam under the arms right up to the point just under the armpit.

 

The ripped seam to the point under the armpit.

 

I'm not sure what material this is made of, but it rolls up instead of fraying,

so there was no need to fix the exposed edges after my ripping.

 

Next I pinched and gathered up the sleeves in the middle and sewed over the gathered material....

 

 

 

 

I loved the sweet, feminine look of it!

And yes, I'm sorry, but I did use white thread...like I said, I was winging it,

and I didn't have matching thread anyway.



So there you have it...a quick fix for too tight sleeves and waist.

I loved the way the sleeves looked, and I'm sure I'll use that technique again!