Is this possible in dress making or am I an eejit?

[Namechangearoonie123]

Say you have a sleeveless dress (straps only) that is far too small for you.

And you put it on a dummy.

You slice up both sides on the seams.

You then sew another fabric between the two seams.

Et voila, you have a much larger dress???

If I'm right I could take a size 8 dress and turn it into an 18 by adding 5 inches of fabric either side?

So, eejit or genius?

As someone with exactly the same qualifications as yourself although my sewing machine is also a dust monument my only question would be if the neck would be wide enough, ie will the straps sit is a funny place as they wouldn't be wide enough? And will the straps be long enough? And I'd think you might want to flare the pieces to maintain the shape of the dress, ie follow the current shape of the dress in the added panels.

Sorry, that was more than an only question...

The boob part would end up sitting in completely the wrong place. You can take it up or down a couple of sizes but five sizes is not likely to turn out well.

I could move the straps as they would definitely be too close to the neck.

The dress does flare gently but if I made the panel the same size all the way down the flare would remain?

Why would the boob part be in the wrong place , it would still be exactly in the front if the panels were the same?

The only difference would be the panels in the sides which run down the side in a contrasting fabric?

Think of it like a size 8 bikini top that has a tie string. An 18 could wear that top, because they could just tie at the very ends. However, the boob coverage would surely be minimal?

I guess it depends on the neckline etc and whether there is any contouring around the boob area.

The boob part would be in the wrong place because a size 18 person has a bigger (broader) chest than a size 8 person. Adding panels to the side of the dress doesn't increase the size between the breasts.

I can't imagine this would work at all, but you might be able to fashion a top from the original skirt part. Sorry, this isn't very helpful!

I'm not sure it would turn out well, it sounds tricky, but what about buying a similar dress as cheaply as possible in a charity shop and trying it with that?
Then you'll still have your nice dress fabric to try something else with.

Does the bodice part of the dress have darts in it ? If it does you would have to take these out and reposition them.