(pretty sure sewers is not a word, but don't care...)

So, this year for halloween, i decided I really, really wanted to do a particular character from my fave broadway musical. Unfortunately, until the first of the month, I had NO idea if I would be workign Halloween, or if I would have a reason to wear a costume that spectacular if I wasn't. But work has revealed that not only are we allowed to wear costumes, they will aslo be holding a costume contest. So now I finally have my chance to wear my dream halloween costume.

Problem: the dress the character wears is pretty extravagant. Simply extravagant, really, but its definitely not something you can find in a store (especially at my budget.) As I'm also a very large girl, I tried looking online for dresses that are similar in my size, but no luck. Trift stores, discount stores, etc, nothing even close to what I needed. (I even went as far to search for dresses that looked like others of hers from other portions of the musical, nothing at all) Since I do have some sewing experience, I figured i could jsut find a similar dress and alter it(granted, if it was fairly cheap. I'm not abut to go altering an expensive designer prom dress or anything like that.). Unfortunately, its very hard to make alterations to a dress when you can't find one.

So, after all that failure, I dcided to just throw my hands in the air and make one from scratch. (Again, i do have some experience working with sewing and patterns, so not completely blind going into this adventure.) So I went otu and got the largest pattern i could find and some fabric from a discount store (yay for discount bulk fabric stores! <3 )

So at this point, I have gotten as far as to haave a nearly completed bodice for this dress. All that is missing, really, is the zipper in the back. However, here is where I need advice. Turns out I am much larger than whoever made the pattern assumed the largest customer would be. in the front, it fits fine, but there is no possible way I would be able to zi it in the back. Its not evena matter of whether or not I would be able to breath. It would not be able to zip at all, if I could even get the two halves of the zipper to even meet.

So I need help from someone with more experience than have. What can I do to make this thing fit, without having to completely remake the entire thing up until this point?

If it helps any, I do have some fabric left over at this point in time. I was hoping to use it for details and avoid a second trip to the fabric store (where I would hope to find the exact fabric in the exact color, as it is a bulk discount store that doesnt really have the same stock week to week)

Again, i'd really prefer not to have to start over completely, and I don't have enough fabric to completely re-cut all the pieces for the bodice...(Enough for alterations, but thats it)

And yes I know, Losty is stupid for not takign measurements first...i just inda assumed that the largest pattern I could find ould be big enough...guess I underestimated how fat I am -sigh-

edit:
Heh...nvm...I managed to actually fix it. I was able to successfully enlarge the bodice by slightly modifying a piece of the pattern. It fits perfectly now, and even has a bit of room to breathe ^w^ I'm hopign it doesn't mess too much with the skirt portion, but we'll see. If it does end up that way (as I am already modifying the skirt quite a bit at ths point) it shoudl be fine. After this fiasco, I've determined it would be a good idea to get some additional fabric, since I am not out ofwhat I was going to use for detailing anyway. Just gotta slink away to the fabric store (aka, get a ride froma f amily member -not a driver-) before work one of these days v.v
Will psot here if i hit nanymore snags though.

Glad to hear you fixed it! I would have suggested getting rid of the zipper entirely, sewing up the edges of the back seams, preferably with some kind of stabilizing tape or even a small plastic bone (zip ties work well) to give it some sturdiness, adding rivet holes, and using ribbon to make a false corset back. Infinitely adjustable and pretty, too! Then the skirt would close separately from the bodice, and voila! My prom dress had this kind of closure and it is just beautiful to wear, plus it hugs your curves in all the right places because of how adjustable it is. Something to keep in mind for future projects!