Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, I had been looking for a light blue dress with buttons on the front for a couple of years. I finally found the perfect one by coincidence when browsing Zalando last summer. The dress was longer than I wanted it to be, but I bought it anyway, hoping I’d be able to shorten it.

I had studied dress making years ago at a vocational school in Finland, but dropped out after the first semester, so I thought I’d be able to shorten the dress myself. However, the hem was double layered and pleated, made from thin chiffon fabric and I didn’t want to ruin it, so I decided to get it shortened by a professional. I first took it to a shop in Helsinki, the woman working there said she wouldn’t be able to do it. Too hard. So I tried another one in Vantaa, near where I lived at that time. They said they’d do it. I was moving to Sweden within a few days and knew I probably wouldn’t get it back in time, although I really wanted to. I had my dad pick it up for me and when I visited home around Christmas I finally got it back!

I knew from the beginning I wanted to change the buttons. The blue ones were okay, but I wanted some contrast to it. So I bought black buttons to replace the blue ones with.

This part I could manage myself.

It feels really short, but on the other hand it looks cute. In the original form the hem looked really heavy, since it was not only wide and pleated, but it covered my knees. It probably would have suited a taller person, but not me.

Long story short, I finally found the dress I had wanted for so long. 💙