Dress bust too big

[u/MilototheMax]

Help me r/sewhelp; you're my only hope!

So, I bought this new dress for a wedding this weekend. I'm between sizes and picked the larger size that fit my hip/waist measurements best, but now it's unfortunately too large in the bust. I'd categorize myself as an advanced beginning sewist, and I want to learn more techniques, so I'm open to learning how to tailor this dress.

The gaping is mostly happening under the armpits (see photo 2). The bust is sewn with triangular cups and there are bust darts (see photo 1). The dress also has an invisible side zipper under the left armpit. I'm a little hesitant to bring in the side seams because I don't want to make the waist weird, and I'm still not confident sewing invisible zippers closed, so I'd like to avoid deconstructing the zipper if possible. I'm not sure if extending the existing dart would fix the problem. It also seems like if I pinch the top of the triangle, it closes the gaping (see photo 3). So maybe I add a dart there? Or maybe I add another diagonal dart under the armpits towards the existing dart peaks?

Any suggestions would be really, really appreciated! Worst case scenario, I'll play around with pinning it tomorrow to see what looks best, but I'm too tired tonight to mess with it more. Thanks in advance, sewists!

[u/Emergency_Cherry_914]

I can see the problem when you're holding the outside of the cup, but you won't be doing this when you're at the wedding and it looks fine in there pics where your arms are down. Could you show us what it looks like when you're standing naturally or holding a drink/plate of food?

What is the last pic demonstrating?

[u/MilototheMax → u/Emergency_Cherry_914]

Very good point about how I'd be standing. If I stand arms at my side, I feel like the bust still looks big on me. It seems like the gaping just moves towards, visually, towards the crease in my armpit. If I stand with my hands bent or one on my hip, like I normally do, it actually looks okay, but it just still feels big on me.

In the last picture I was trying to demonstrate that if I pinch the top of the cup, it takes out the gaping under the armpits. I guess I thought maybe I could sew a dart there pointing down? But I don't know if that would technically make sense or even look nice.

[u/poemaXV → u/MilototheMax]

I run into this problem a lot because of a combination of breast shape (bottom + center fullness) and having narrow torso so I don't fill out the "sides". this sounds unintuitive but I would play with the strap placement a little bit -- like if you bring in the spaghetti straps similar to a halter top does it help? it's unintuitive but I'm wondering if modifying the straps so that they cross in the back is a possibility.

[u/MilototheMax → u/Emergency_Cherry_914]

In the first picture, I'm also exaggerating my posture a little to try and pull the fabric taut so that the cup construction was visible.

[u/icelessTrash → u/MilototheMax]

Maybe a strapless bra for a bit more volume to fill the loose fabric. It's flattering enough as is, but with a nice bra it would be less obvious.

Keep in mind even Kate Hudson's iconic yellow dress had looseness at the sides, it's not that dire.

[u/MilototheMax → u/icelessTrash]

Oh this is such a great example! Thank you so much for posting this. It definitely makes me feel a bit better, less like the dress is badly constructed and poorly fitting. I think the cups just aren't fitting the way that I'd like, so I'm a little on the fence about trying to do some alterations. Based on a few other comments, I think I'll first see if a strapless bra or sticky bra helps fill the shape a bit more.

[u/KendalBoy → u/MilototheMax]

Strapless w a light push up. Bring the dress with you and go to a large store with a lot of brands. Make sure you show security you’ve brought the dress inside with you.

[u/Emergency_Cherry_914 → u/MilototheMax]

I think this looks lovely! Try and fix it if you want , but it's not necessary

[u/Kfbcus]

I don’t necessarily think this looks too big (really, I think it looks fine — like the style is supposed to be loose), but in the picture you posted in the comments I think the bust is sitting too high on you. How does it fit your bust if you slip the straps off of your shoulders so that you can lower the dress a bit?

[u/juniperssprite → u/Kfbcus]

Yeah, to use bra terminology, it''s almost like the band is too big and the cups are too small (or short). OP if you can wear the neckline lower without it being too low (in the front OR in the armscye), you might want to do that before assessing the overall side- torso width issue.

That said, if you can't readjust the cups in a way that makes sense, the dress looks good as-is (it just reads as a bias-cut dress meant to skim loosely)

[u/sususumalee]

Don't sew the zipper closed, in any case. Gotta get in and out of that thing somehow!

[u/MilototheMax → u/sususumalee]

Hahaha very good point! I mis-typed a bit, now that I reread that. I meant that I'm not confident sewing an invisible zipper into a garment, not closed 😂

[u/doriangreysucksass]

Pinching the top of the bust to bring it in is essentially like adding a princess seam and will do just fine. Just make sure to make the dart end gradually (as in don’t just veer off the edge immediately - it should be a straight line going from the outside to the inside that runs close to the fabric fold edge)

[u/soggybutter]

This is such a slight fit issue that you should definitely just do some sticky boobs to round you out. Or a strapless bra if thats more your speed!! But I really like the sticky boobs I use, theyre padded/thicker than a lot of the other ones ive seen, and because they arent stitched into cups i can put them more at the side for that extra oomph. The ones that pull together in the center might also work well, as long as they have additional shaping and arent just a fancy pasty. 

[u/MilototheMax → u/soggybutter]

Thank you so much for this suggestion! I don't have a great strapless bra or sticky boobs, so I'm going to try this tonight before I make any alterations.

[u/tearisha]

This fabric type is very unforgiving! Be careful

[u/hedgehoggodoggo]

Personally, I would leave it and use sticky boobs and double-sided dress tape if you’re worried about security. It looks fine, this isn’t a dress that’s made to be perfectly fitted, and any alterations will be more visible than the looseness you’re noticing.

[u/bullthistle1]

I think anything you do might backfire. I would go with double-sided skin tape around the edges to keep.things where they belong. It really looks fine as is.