How To Shorten Wide Straps on a Formal Dress

Homecoming dresses were on the hot list of alterations this month! Most common alterations I've seen are taking in the sides, shortening straps, and adding bra cups.

This dress had wide straps which were positioned on an angle in the back.  The dress fit her perfectly except the straps in the back were too long and loose.  They just needed shortened by 1 inch.  This is an easy tutorial on how to do this simple alteration.  Hope you enjoy!

Here's the left side at the back.  As you can see, the strap is loose and gaping.

Same problem with the right side…

I pinned up the strap to a point where it was secure yet comfortable. 

Here’s the other side. Looks like we only needed to shorten each strap by 1 inch.

I removed the first row of stitching on the inside lining (where the end of the strap is)

I turned the dress inside out.  Here is where the strap is.  I started removing some more stitching.

I went back on the right side to mark with safety pins the placement of the strap.  I didn't want to lose my place after I remove all stitches. 

All the stitches are removed and I'm getting ready to pull the strap through.

See the safety pins on top? That's where the original seam was.  I marked exactly 1" from the original seam to the new seam (chalk mark on the right)

I did a quick row of stitches to hold down the lining to the satin.  I did this so the fabric doesn't shift.

I lined the strap up where the new chalk mark was. Pinned in place and stitched.

I turned the dress right sight out and now I'm going to under stitch the lining back in place.  

 

In order to sew the under stitching back, I separated the satin and the lining so it lays flat.  It is a nice way to hide stitches, you can only see them from the inside.

Here is the result of the under stitching.

Here's the satin side - no stitches. It has a nice clean look!

She put the dress on and the straps are no longer loose.  Sorry for the grainy pics! These were originally too dark and I tried brightening.

Here is the right side and she's good to go!

I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial!  This is about the same method as shortening spaghetti straps, only this is a much wider strap.  Have a great day and happy sewing!

😉🧵🧷💖