I’m looking for some advice on shortening a wedding dress – it needs about 5″ taken off.  The complications are lace trim that radiates up the skirt about 2.5 feet attached directly to poly satin and the dress has no waist seam.  I’m concerned that the shape of the dress and proportion on the bride will get out of whack if I create a seam at the waist.  Not to mention the boning is in the way.  It would also mean having to redo the zipper and refit through the waist and hip.  The dress is trumpet style so fits fairly well through the hip down almost to the knee.  Raising at the waist might mean raising the ‘trumpet’ too high (again, the question of proportion on the bride).  I can remove the lace, hem and reattach but it means a lot of seam ripping as the lace is completely sewn around the border for about 2 feet.  I’m also going to need to take in under the armpits about 4″ but still think adding the seam at the waist is the hardest route.