Marking the dress and cutting it down...

I enlisted my daughter to help me mark my dress. I put the dress on and stood as relaxed and natural as I could, not only to be more comfortable while my dress was marked but also so the dress would fall in the correct position when marked and cut. 

We started by measuring up from the floor to the point where I wanted my dress to fall just below the knee and subtracted and inch for seam allowance. My daughter then went all around my dress marking that point with a pencil and measuring stick.

In the above photo you can see the pencil mark.

With the dress on a hanger I started cutting around the outside layer making sure not to cut the liner just yet.

After the outer layer is cut begin cutting the liner making sure you match the seams with the dress while you cut so that both layers are even.

Here you can see the top layer cut, the liner layer being cut and the petticoat sticking out the bottom.

Now that the dress and liner have been cut off I'm going to cut out the built in petticoat. It's stiff, pretty flattened due to the used condition and way too long for my rockabilly style dress. Besides I'm going to be wearing a turquoise nylon chiffon petticoat that is soft and fluffy...like the one below...

Now on to removing the petticoat... Notice how I left the bodice liner intact? I'm only cutting off the stiff tulle layers and leaving the rest for support.

We are really getting there now...

Starting to look rockabilly already...well the bones are there anyway. I love the halter top and the flare at the bottom and now it's just the right length and weighs so much less. I can really see wearing this dress in Vegas in the summer. 

So just to recap see the before full length gown with medium train, And after knee length...