This RTW green dress was too big at the armhole and the bodice was too wide. The armhole is now 2 cm lower at the shoulder seams. I’ve also taken out width from the two back seams (2.5cm each) to bring in the bodice. This took 2 1/2 hours to do. There was no unpicking involved.
This RTW dress has been taken in at the centre back seam by 5cm. The hem has come up by 4 inches. I’ve also tucked in the front neckline so that it doesn’t gap. This took 2 1/2 hours to do.
This pink number is one that I made as a wearable toile. The fabric was a gift and I’ve got stacks of it. This dress is not lined.
I’ve taken 3cm from the side seams and the tricky part was resewing the armhole edging. This took 2 1/2 hours to do.
This burnt orange dress took 2 hours to fix. Mostly because I took the back zipper out, then took out an inch from the centre back seam, overlocked the seams and reinserted the back zipper. I’ve taken out 2 inches.I made this dress at least 5 years ago and I have a jacket made out of the same fabric. This dress is not lined but the jacket is.
In total, this alteration took 2 hours to do.
This dress took 2 hours to fix. I cut off the sleeves, dropped the shoulder seams by 2cm, turned in the sleeve edges and took the side seams in by 1 inch. 
Yesterday I didn’t like the look of this dress around the waist so I took off the front waist band. So in total this dress has taken 2 1/2 hours to fix. This weekend I’ll take out some of the fullness out of the blue cherry dress too.
This is the quilt fabric that I’ve used a lot. I made this dress a couple of years ago and it’s not lined but has bias binding on the neckline and armholes. I’ve taken this in at the side seams. The seams are overlocked.
This alteration took 1 1/2 hours to do.
I won’t bore you with any further alterations. What I have learnt by altering my summer dresses is the hardest part was deciding if the dress was worth keeping and then what area needs to be adjusted. Once I’d done this planning part, the rest was doable. I’m not saying it wasn’t stressful, but it was worth the work.
I’m working on Vogue 1204 pants so I’ll really ready to make these pants from scratch now.
And one day, I’ll learn how to layout these pages better…
velosews 
You have so many dresses! 🙂
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You have been busy and now have some great dresses to wear during summer.
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You are so good doing all these alterations. I find myself thinking about half way through the process that making a new dress would have been less trouble and more fun!
I think I am right about the more fun part, but 2 and 1/2 hours is not bad time investment for a “new” dress. Your fitting looks excellent.
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Thanks for these comments. I'm definitely back to making clothes from scratch.
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I admire your resolve to make these dresses fit better. I think you did a marvelous job on all of them. I would have to agree about the hardest part being what to keep and what should go. Like Kbenco said, a new dress would be so much more fun. Ah…but now that the tedious work is done, you get to reward yourself with new clothes. Awesome!
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You have been busy, and have some wonderful like-new summer dresses to show for it. The fit is excellent.
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Would you believe it's now cold and wet in Sydney today. That's how we roll.
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Lovely collection of dresses and admire how you altered them.
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