Shorten a Knit Dress With No Sewing
Hello Readers. When I saw this dress I thought the tiers of the skirt were so fun and pretty and on trend too. But the dress was just too long on me. I needed to shorten it. It was fast and easy "no-sew" project. (I thrifted my dress but you can find a similar dresses here and here.)
Before and after some quick alterations.
Why am I making this face? I don't know. Please ignore it, it has no bearing on the dress refashion. This dress was a light weight knit material. When I tried it on I liked the fit but not the length. I loved the tiers of this full skirt but this knit dress was too long for me. When I walked up stairs I was stepping all over the hemline and tripping. It was an accident waiting to happen It needed to be shorter.
I had a plan to make this dress shorter and safer for me to wear. I only needed to cut the length to size. I knew it would be easy because the dress was designed with raw cut, unfinished edges. If the designer can use these kind of cut edges then so can I. Knit materials like t-shirts and dresses like this, don't fray when you cut them. It makes them easy to work with and fun to refashion.
I measured the ruffle at the bottom of the dress so I could make sure to get the length right when I started cutting the new ruffle. I also noticed how imperfect the original edge was. This put my mind at ease about how good my cutting would have to be. No one needs o be perfect. Good enough is good enough.
I cut the new ruffled edge the same length as the old one. Each tier of this dress was made with unhemmed/raw cut edges. It makes the dress very lightweight and the edges will not fray. I used a rotary cutter but scissors would work just as well.
This new dress is almost exactly the same, it's just shorter. The fun tiers and full twirly skirt are still just as great as they were before.
I loved the fun twirly skirt and I feel like I still have that. This shorter dress is a better length for me. I can walk safely without tripping over my own dress. Thanks for reading along and I wish you a Happy New Year!
Chickie
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
- Knit Dress (Thrifted/Amazon)
- Rotary Cutter/Scissors (Sewing Supply Store)
The author may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
Comments
Join the conversation
Is it just cut and not glued or sewn? So, this would not work on material that would fray.
👍️