making or mending?

A while back, I posted about some dresses I’d bought from the charity shops and was waiting to alter – they were maxi dresses, and I thought they would be better as calf or knee length. When I actually got round to trying them on, I changed my mind completely and decided to leave them as they were – being less than confident about my legs means that a longer length dress is ideal summer-wear for me. I road tested my favourite one last Saturday, and it performed pretty well.

 

There I am again, looking ever so cheery in my outfit photographs – I utterly hate posing for these, and every time I want to show some clothes, I always think of a paragraph from one of my favourite books, Fashion Babylon. In reference to the size of the models (I think,  I’m writing from memory as the book is in my locker at work), the designer says that he often wishes that the designs themselves would get up and walk down the runway, as once the models were in them, the lines were ruined by all of the ‘tits and arses’. This is exactly how I feel about outfit posts – I’d be much more of a fan if the clothes could just stand up by themselves and pose. 

I was quite enjoying the dress, I had to leave a few buttons undone towards the bottom as it was a teeny bit tight, but on the whole it was pretty comfortable and I do love the print. Everything was going swimmingly until this happened:

I bent over to pick something up for the Boy, and one button decided it had been put under too much strain, and suddenly rebelled, pinging across the room. Unfortunately, it took some of the material with it, and now I’m left with a hole too large to darn over (for my basic sewing knowledge anyway) – so the question is, do I take it to a tailors to be mended, or do I be brave and chop the dress into a top and skirt? The button that deserted me was the third one from the bottom, which is around about the mid-thigh mark – not exactly ideal for chopping in two, as it would make a very long top and a rather short skirt. I’m all for making do and mending – but could someone else make the decision for me first?!

(Images that aren’t of my sour puss or a dress with holes in – click for the source.)