Altered

So Phineas awoke one Saturday morning to find me ripping apart a pair of trousers that were too big at the waist.

My real motivation for learning to sew was the high price of paying my local seamstress, Helen the Dressmaker, to tailor suits and dresses so that they fit on top. Somehow I ended up with a much smaller top and waist than bottom.

My first alteration job - a sheath dress which was huge on top - now fits. It used to look more like a potato sack, but now because of the miracle of darts, it's more sleek.

And the trousers are now 4 inches smaller at the waist than they once were. They're not perfect - the pockets don't lay totally flat - but overall the altered version is a clear improvement over the baggy version.

I'd like to get better at tailoring clothing but there doesn't seem to be any book or guide specifically about altering already finished clothes. But every time I look thru my closet something seems to need a little tuck or slight change. And at this point I'm worried that I will end up with a Humpty Dumpty project on my hands - once I take it apart, I might not be able to put it back together again!