Would you get a dressmaker to alter or return this dress?

[Fushia123]

I want a summer dress for 2 different occasions and have trawled through lots of recommendations on other threads to find one.
I bought this - it’s a lovely dress but there are a few things not right on me (size 14 and 5ft 5).
A bit too low, a lot of lovely fabric which adds bulk, and puffy sleeves.
If it’s not perfect but after a lot of looking would you….
Return it and keep looking with time running out?
or
Ask a dressmaker to alter the buttons and front, take out the elastic on the sleeves etc?
Am I being too fussy?
Finding a lovely summer dress used to be easy!

https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/blue-floral-tile-print-starlight-midi-dress

You would do best to show the dressmaker the dress, explain how you would like it to be different and ask her to make you one from scratch. You want too many alterations.

So essentially you want this, instead, in whatever colour?

https://www.stories.com/en_gbp/clothing/dresses/midi-dresses/product.flutter-sleeve-midi-dress-white.0840188020.html

Or something similar?

You could have yours altered - but I should warn you I did the same with a big puffy floral frock a couple of years ago; the tailors did exactly what I asked and the poor dress went from cool and fashionable to unwearably dowdy in the space of a weekend.

I don’t do alterations but I make my own clothes. In my opinion it would cost as much again to do the alterations you want and that’s if there’s enough seam allowance to alter the sleeves etc.

you will find people that are skilled at alterations and you will find people that are cheap. They will NOT be the same people.

Just sew a bit of white fabric behind the ‘v’ so it looks like you’ve got a cami under it rather than faff with dressmaker.

put a snap fastener at the cleavage and remove the arm elastic.

As someone with many years of dressmaking behind me, what you’re looking for is a new dress to be made from that dress…it will cost a lot, amd no matter how good the dressmaker, won’t be that great.

I’d keep looking

Another vote for keep looking.

Return the dress. You don't like more about it than you like about it.

I'd also return it and keep looking! Definitely would cost a lot to have alterations,not worth it!

Unless the dress was an absolute bargain at a charity shop, I'd not fiddle with it beyond some simple fit alterations. Shorten hems, etc fine. The elastic is probably sewn into the sleeve hem so all that stitching has to be unpicked before you can remove the elastic. The sleeves will then be massive as they're designed to be gathered by elastic - probably 2x fullness. The shaping at the front is too low, but you can't just move buttons willy-nilly, there will be buttonholes and plackets to deal with and the neck opening won't lie right. You may hate the changes, it won't be the dress you bought. For a cheap dress it might be worth a punt, but anything more expensive...I wouldn't.
Send it back if you paid more than £20 for it.

I wouldn't get it altered - it's too different from what you actually want. You want a dress in a completely different style.

Thank you everyone. You all make really sensible points which are important to consider. I paid £89 for the dress. Your replies are just brilliant and have helped me to make a sensible decision - it’s going back!
Thank you all again.

@Fushia123 sorry haven't RTFT but your thread name interested me. My DD was a bridesmaid at a wedding a couple of weeks ago wearing a fitted long silk dress with a fishtail and cowl back. When she came home she found a dressmaker who altered it to make a separate top and skirt so now she can wear it either as a skirt only or the top with a different bottom. It is absolutely beautiful. It had never occurred to me to do such a thing, to be honest. Having said that, you've decided to return your dress anyway, which she could not have done (she had had it shortened before the wedding).

It'll cost more than the dress to get it altered. Get a different dress.