In February, my sister came to me asking if I liked the prom dress she found online and fell in love with. As soon as I saw it I thought it was just her style but when I double checked the size chart before ordering, I saw that they sized small so it wouldn't fit her. I gave her two options: #1. We go shopping, look for, and hopefully buy a similar or different dress, or #2. She trusts me to alter a dress to make our own version. Obviously she went with Option 2. (Photos below were screenshots taken for reference from Promgirl.com but the dress is no longer available)

I instantly hopped onto Azazie (an online site specializing in bridesmaid and wedding dresses) and started looking. I've had a number of my bridesmaid clients come in with Azazie before so I knew they were good quality, reasonably priced, and had wide size, style, and color ranges. While searching, we came across the Flora and knew it was the perfect base for the dress and ordered it in "Peacock".

After we decided on the dress, I jumped over to Etsy to look for some gold lace that I thought she'd like. Once I narrowed it down to 5 or 6 from different shops, I sent her the photos so she could pick out her favorite. She decided which she wanted and we were ready to go!

The dress arrived around 5 weeks after ordering it and the lace came in 5 days.

First was to alter the dress so Missy wasn't swimming in it. I had to shorten each strap about 2", take in the bust about 4", take in the waist around 4", and shorten the hems around 5". After we liked how it fit, I quickly laid down the bodice of the dress and made a quick pattern so I could cut the lace out.

I started off by stitching down the side seams and shoulder seams, leaving the back open. After confirming fit, I pinned it to the dress and stitched the lace to the dress around the armholes, then along the neckline, before finishing it along the zipper in the back. I made sure that I didn't fully attach the lace like I normally would because I wanted it to look like the crop it turned out to be but so that it was also removable in case we wanted to do anything different with the dress.

We were SO happy with how it turned out (even if we were up super late the night before prom to finish it 😂). The crowning glory was doing Missy's hair and makeup to match what I thought would be perfect to complement the dress and her personality (and obviously to force her into a photoshoot)!