Will this dress look OK if I have it shortened?

[uberalice]

I really love this dress from Baukjen, but I'm only 154 cm tall. Will it look OK if I have it shortened or will it spoil the dimensions of the tiers? I'm a size 10.

www.baukjen.com/products/molly-dress-with-lenzing-ecovero

Baukjen clothes tend to suit taller women, so it will probably be too long all over for you. It's made from viscose and described as voile so would be a bit fragile to unpick.

At that price, I'd want something that fits

I do think it would spoil the dimensions of the tiers and also as PP says, the fabric doesn’t look ideal for altering and it’s too expensive for it not to fit properly.

I would be happen to shorten it if I was doing it myself. I'd split the amount I wanted to shorten it by equally across all the tiers (unless it interfered with the inseam pockets in the top tier)

You wouldn't necessarily need unpick anything just sew a deeper seam allowance where each tier joins and a slightly deeper hem.

I think the body of the dress would be too long. OP is 5 ft 0.5 in tall and the dress is about 4 ft 3 in.

If you doubled up the fabric at the tiers, it would probably show.

I'm about 3 inches taller than OP, and the dress would reach the floor on me

I had a dress similar to this altered once. Rather than the hem, I had the bodice shortened, which worked well. Depending how long the bodice is on you though, you may need to shorten there AND the top of one of the frills.

I'm shortening a tiered Brora skirt at the moment. I just make a little fold/tuck under each tier and sew through the seamline, so the tiers lok the same when I've finished. You should be able to find a local seamstress who would alter this and preserve the look.

It's already a dropped waist so that may look odd on someone a lot shorter than the model. I would shorten it at the waist taking 2 or 3 inches off the bodice then re-attach the tiered skirt if I were going to alter it for someone shorter.

Sorry to be negative, but it needs to be a lot shorter. I'd need about 25 cm off the length, so OP would probably need about 30 cm off

Yes it could be shortened at the waist and in the tiers (although its fiddly). Depending on OP's proportions it might not need that much off - normally petite are 5cm shorter on the skirt and 2.5cm shorter at the waist.

The model is probably about 5'10", maybe taller

Unless you have very short legs proportionally, I cannot see it would work. Which is a pity as it is a lovely dress.

Thanks for all the helpful comments. I think it's too risky and I could end up wasting the price of the dress and the cost of the alterations. I wonder if I could find a dressmaker who could make me something similar in my size.

It’s the same style as the Esther dress, which is 4cm shorter. Have a look at that and see what you think. It’s a bit easier to visualise as plainer design. It looks like the bottom frill in shorter. I have last years version. I will check length in morning

Thank you @MsDastardley. I like the Esther dress too. That might be an option for me.

@uberalice

Thank you *@MsDastardley*. I like the Esther dress too. That might be an option for me.

Hi, this is the one I got last year www.baukjen.com/products/aphrodite-dress-with-lenzing-ecovero-navy-woodblock-print. The voile fabric is lovely. It’s about the same length as the Esther and is mid calf on me, 5’6”. This one could be easily shortened though as has one less tier on skirt. I’ve got quite a long body so the waist sits high on me, the armholes are fine, definitely not long.

If you really love the dress, why don’t you wait until it’s on sale (they do have lots of offers) and then take it to a dressmaker to see if they can do anything for you. If it’s not going to work you could return. It’s a lovely dress but expensive if you need to do a lot of alterations.

Are you a key worker by any chance? If so they do a 25% discount.

Sorry, forgot to add…. My other suggestion would be to remove the bottom tier completely of the first dress?

It could be shortened by re stitching the waist seam, then you can get the waist and skirt length both right. Have you a sewing machine?