If the dress is too tight and you’d like to have it fitted, it’s important to keep in mind that not all dresses can be let out. Below is a video explaining how you can check for yourself. It may save you some time before committing to making the trip to see me, only to find out that there is nothing we can do.
A good indicator If a dress can be let out is if the seam allowance inside is greater than 1” in width.
I have two bridesmaid's dresses here, and I will show you how to check if they are able to be let out. Normally we let out the dresses on the side so that's where we will look. We will take a look at the side here (green dress) and along the vertical seam. So we can lift the skirt here, and this one has two liners, so we're going to go in between the two linings. And sometimes you can go all the way up here, in between the layers. So that's were we want to be. So you're going to check the side seam and look for how much fabric there is here, and in the skirt.
So you can see, this one doesn't have very much. We can see here is the seam. So this is the picture you'd want to send me so we can determine if we can let out the dress enough for you.
Another thing that you want to keep in mind, is sometimes if the dress has a chiffon layer, the chiffon layer will be sewn separately, independently of all the rest, and it will have a different finish on the inside. For example, this one has what's called a french seam and you see, this one is very, very narrow. So that's something that we want to look at too.
This one is constructed in a different way (orange dress). Let me show you. When we lift the skirt it only has one lining and the inner materials. So if we're looking at the dress, there is no way we can really get in here to check in anything here.
And you can see this is very, very tiny. So that's something that we can assume is happening up here on the seam too. This one can not be let out at all.
This one (green) can be maybe let out a tiny tiny bit, although I would not recommend it. Most bridesmaid dresses do not have enough material to be let out, but every designer is different so it's worthwhile to check, if the dress is too tight on you.