Making a Really Tight Dress Fit Better

Sometimes you really have to get creative. This prom dress would not even close when the girl put it on. It had been previously altered and the seams (including those around the zipper) had been snipped. She was in love with the dress and wearing it to prom was her only focus. Ohhh, to be a teen again....

The zipper had been originally stitched on the right side of the dress, even though it is an invisible zipper. I'm seeing a lot more of this lately. I think the word is out to manufacturers that those zippers are weak and unreliable. So I could get about 1/2" out of each side of the center back seam. You can see this by the folds and the needle holes. Since that was not enough, I actually exposed the zipper tape. This got an additional 1/2". That gave her 1 1/2" total, just enough for her to zip the dress and head to prom.