Toddler dress alteration

Here's a cute little dress of A's that was just too long. She kept tripping over the hem whenever she attempted to navigate the steps, or climb on her rocking horse, or chase her brother, or do any of the hundred other things that toddlers need to do!







Unfortunately, it's been at the bottom of the "do something about that"list. Until today! She woke up early from her nap and the other two were still sleeping (which never happens, she's my one dependable sleeper!) so she and I went out to the porch to play. I was sitting on the swing watching her explore without her brother around to compete with, and she nearly broke her neck trying to climb back up the step to show me something. So I popped the dress off, stepped inside, and in 10 minutes I had it back on her, problem solved! If I do say so myself, I really like the cute tucks, I think they add something that was missing in the original! And as she gets taller I can let them out one at a time to lengthen it little by little.








Here's what I did:
The hem had a little ruffle, which I didn't want to lose, and I certainly didn't want to remove and reapply! So I folded the dress up about 3 inches from the hem (wrong sides together) and made a line of stitching 1 inch from the edge. I then folded it up a little higher and made another 1 inch "seam". One more time, and there we were! I may actually add one more to take it up a little higher, we'll see how she does in it.