Velvet Dress- Adjusting a charity shop find

I feel that, while last christmas was all about sparkles, this year is looking very velvety. 

I found a velvet dress in dark red in a charity shop for £8 in a size 16.  Or course, as we all know, people who are size 16 do not want, need, or deserve a dress with any shape to it and should instead wear velvet nighties when they're out on the town.
Suffice to say that I needed to take the dress in, but also add some definition to the waist and improve the neckline. 

I tried the dress on and marked my natural waistline (my narrowest point, not the annoying point at which modern jeans sit), then took it off and cut the dress in half at this point. I unpicked the thin strip of lace around the neck line which really made it look like nightwear. 

The I took the top part in by re-sewing the side seams about an inch further in and both sides including the sleeves as well.  I disliked the large rounded neckline so I manipulated the fabric to create a v shape below the neck (I couldn't cut it into a v fully as it would have been too low).  It now appears that one half of the top overlaps the other but it doesn't as there wasn't enough fabric to do this.

Making sure the top now fitted I lined up the skirt which was now much bigger than the top half.  I hand sewed a loose running stitch around the top of the skirt. And then pulled (pulling the thread scrunches the fabric) until the skirt became the same size as the top, then I tied a knot in the thread and attempted to arrange the scrunches evenly.  Then I pinned the skirt to the top (right sides together) and sewed around the waist. 

 I had to re hem the neckline and cut about 20cm off the bottom of the dress as it felt too long and then re hem the bottom. 
And that was that :)
p.s Hope you enjoy as much as I did that all the pictures made the dress look different colours...