DIY Tutorial: Saving Too Short Dresses (Jumpsuit and Two-piece)

In Seoul, most cheap stores won't let you try clothes on - either because they don't have fitting rooms (but then many girls will just try it over/under their clothes) or because the summer is hot and they don't want their clothes to be sweaty and have make up marks. Because of this, it can be sometimes hard to buy clothes that will fit you properly - I carried measuring tape with me to check the size (which is almost always universal), but still I ended up with two dresses that ended right where my butt ends, so with the slightest wind or wrong move, the whole Seoul would get to see my behind. Not exactly the style I'm aiming for. So I desperately searched for ways to fix the dresses - and I came up with two very easy ways, which require just a needle, thread, scissors and lace.

1) Jumpsuit

The dress on the following photo has a circular skirt. So I just folded the skirt in half and sewed about 7 cm in the middle. Of course since that's not the way to sew shorts, the folds aren't that nice - fixable with a security pin or a brooch.

You might think it's still very short, and it is, but this is a totally OK length in Korea unless you're in a formal setting. My colleague was claiming that in Korea, both low necklines and short skirts/shorts are not appropriate (if you think about proper etiquette), but some 80% girls wear very very very short bottoms, so I assume she meant situations where proper etiquette would be required (meating elder people etc.). Anyways, nobody ever commented on the length or gave me a second look and it saved me several times when I (or my colleagues) spilled things on me in the lab (I'm in a culinary lab now, so whatever can be spilled is not dangerous, but very hard to wash off fabric - much easier to wash my legs =D). I wouldn't dare to wear this length in Europe though unless I was walking with my brother or dad (and then I don't think I'd be allowed to wear it =D).

2) Two Piece

This dress was stretchy, so I decided to cut it in the middle and turn it into a skirt and a crop top. Since crop tops in Korea show just a teeny tiny bit of skin I prolonged the top by sewing some Daiso lace on. 

So for the top, you just need to fold the end of fabric inwards and secure with zig zag stitch while sewing the lace on. 

For the skirt, first make 2 extra seams in the front and 2 in the back to make it sit better in the waist area, then fold the edge and secure with zig zag stitch.

I don't have almost any worn pics, which is ironic since I wore the skirt and the top both together and separately many times. People quite liked the outcome and I was told my fashion sense is good. =D  

Yours truly

Vita