Vintage lace dress rehab

I bought this dress in 2006 or 2007 from a vintage shop on Magazine St in New Orleans that was going out of business. It was cheap because the lace was falling apart. I wanted to do a genius "before/after" post for you, but I failed! I know I took pictures in it before I repaired the lace, but I can't find them in the ten billion folders of pictures on my computer. 

Before, it had a sheer, skin-color net overlay up to the neck that buttoned in the back. The lace was extremely tattered, especially around the armpits and sides. 

Last winter (?) sometime I spent hours patching up the lace with hand sewing and Fray-chek. 

Then, I tried it on and realized that while the waist and hips fit, the chest was desperately and pitifully loose. Then I added it to the pile of shame and ignored it for a year. 

 I finally dug it out. I needed to take in the boobs quite a bit. No, a lot. A ton. Like 2 inch pinches on each side. At least 4 inches total. Who was this lady with her real hourglass figure? Damn her!

This required taking out the side zip and putting it back in. Done.

 It has this interesting drape on one side of the back only. The dress is probably rayon. It is handmade, I think. All the seams are pinked inside and there are no tags.

This could also be called "having fun with the self-timer on my new camera" time. I really don't know where I would wear this dress.... oh well. One less unfinished project in the dresser.

Here's a close-up of the detail:

One down, three more projects to share!