Patching and reinforcing a dress

What I did:

Before

This red/striped woven dress had been worn by my client's mother and then by my client, who in turn was going to pass it on to her sister after I'd mended it. As one might expect from a two-generation dress, the fabric had thinned considerably, and was frayed and split in several places.

front view of bodice of mostly red woven dress, with holes and frayed fabric visible at shoulders

Before: front view, with some visible holes at the shoulders

shoulder/armpit area of red woven dress with holes (finger visible through one of the armpit holes)

Before: you can see my finger poking through one of the holes in the underarm

neck/shoulder area of red woven dress with large rip at neck/shoulder

Before: a large rip in the neck/shoulder

red woven dress with rip at neck, shown from front, detail

Before: front view of a rip at the neck

red woven dress, top of bodice, right side, showing worn fabric

Before: ripped and worn fabric on the other side of the front bodice

closeup of bottom of red woven dress showing ripped side seam

Before: ripped side seam at the bottom of the dress

After

I made an interior patch from an old red silk shirt and used it to reinforce the rips and worn fabric in the bodice. I did some hand-stitching around the visible edges where the old fabric met the patch, as well as some machine darning over the original fabric and patch to reinforce the many small holes and rips. I did a lot of zig-zag stitching (not really visible in the pictures) to repair and shore up various seams, including the ripped side seam and various places where the woven fabric had started to unravel. I made slits at the bottom of either side of the dress (calf length) for ease of movement.

front view of bodice of red striped dress with semi-visible mending: red patches at shoulder and inside, visible through neck slit

After: front view of the bodice. The darker red visible through the neck slit and at the left shoulder is the red silk interior patch.

back view of top of red woven dress, with visible red interior patch at the right shoulder

After: back view of the bodice and upper torso of the dress, with visible red silk patch at the right neck/shoulder

detail of side slit at bottom of red woven dress

After: bottom of dress (calf length) with repaired side seam and finished side slit. My hope is that the side slits will prevent further rips in the seam by allowing for easier walking.

closeup of underarm of dress, with no visible wear and tear

After: underarm area, now with no visible wear and tear. If you look closely, you can see some machine darning.

closeup of one side of mended bodice of red woven dress, front view

After: a closer view of one side of the front bodice

closeup view of visible patch and reinforcing stitching at top back bodice of red woven dress

After: closeup view, from back, of the bodice with visible interior patch and machine darning