7 Alteration Tips for a Too-Big Dressing Robe

Plus, a simple trick for cleanly squaring hem corners.

Sometimes alterations can teach you the best sewing tricks. While tailoring a cotton robe to fit me better, I discovered a neat little technique for sewing clean, squared corners and can’t wait to share it with you.

In this letter, you’ll find 7 simple alteration tips from this project, including the squared-corner trick.

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1. Reference a garment for fit.

To give myself a baseline, I like to take general measurements from a similar garment that I like the fit of and use these to compare to what I’m altering.

It helps give a ballpark. After measuring a woven cotton robe in my closet, I knew I wanted the sleeve opening around 8 inches and the total length about 48 inches.

2. Take note of existing construction.

No need to reinvent the wheel. Refer to how the garment is constructed and follow suit. For this robe, the armhole seam was sewn first, then the underarm. I’ll use the same method when I narrow the sleeve opening.

3. Follow an order of operations (when applicable).

There’s a certain order to sewing. It’s not set in stone as there are many ways to put a garment together, but certain steps tend to build on each other. The pattern and design often dictate the sequence. But generally speaking, it’s side seams before waist band, underarm sleeve seams before cuffs or hem. Sequences like these.

Gong backwards through a sequence, I seam ripped and pressed open the sleeve hem before trimming the sleeve. After altering the sleeve, I re-hemmed it for a clean finish.

4. Try this fold technique for non-bulky, squared corners.

Here’s the simple technique this robe alteration taught me:

1. Mark your hem. (The tailor’s chalk is faint, but you can just make it out.)

   

2. Press your hem to get its crease lines.

   

3. Take the corner to the first pressed crease (closest to raw edge), and press again with your iron.

   

4. Then fold up your hem as normal and sew.

   

And there you have it! A little trick to create a cleanly squared, non-bulky corner.

Here’s a short video tutorial showing the technique.

5. Press before stitching your hem.

Pressing before sewing makes it easier to stitch close to the edge.

Press (and pin), then stitch.

6. Pin baste and try on.

Either with pins or a basting stitch, mark your alterations and try on your garment. This helped me figure out if I had my estimated measurements right. (Turns out, I did not.) What you imagine will work and what’s really working are often two different things. That’s why it’s important to try on an alteration.

In the end, I took off less from the sleeve than I’d planned (I’d originally intended to make it much narrower), and also decided to shorten the sleeve length. It kept more of a boxy sleeve shape, which I ended up liking.

7. Utilize scraps.

Since I took so much off the hem, I had extra fabric to piece together a belt and belt loops. That kind of leftover doesn’t always happen with alterations, but when it does, seize the opportunity!

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And the absolute best part of this project? Who I get to share it with. Robe finished just in time for newborn snuggles. 💕

Thank you so much for being here, and see you next time. I’ve got a vintage pattern queued up for you. :)

~ Jane