What to do, what to do? You need your lucky dress. You take it out of the cupboard knowing that, the last time that you looked at it, it had a small nibble by the back split. Something irritating but not too obvious. Gah! It didn’t miraculously heal itself whilst hanging in the wardrobe unworn and worse than that, there are more holes.
I know that this fabric has a tendency to moiré but I think that you can see the damage? Curses thinks/thought I. But, what did I do?
I sliced off the offending areas and re-attached the remaining undamaged fabric. Luckily it was:
1) pretty long.
2) I’m pretty short.
3) The bottom few inches were unscathed meaning that I could retain the very invisible ready-to-wear hem.
Would you like to see what it looks like now?
Rescued but I don’t know how long she’ll last. Methinks therefore that an interview-friendly shift needs to go onto the ‘must sew’ list. Any suggestions?!
* Must be the biologist in me but I feel the need to re-assure you that I know that it is the caterpillars that do the real damage…
pennylibrarian 
Those pesky creatures have eaten a number of beautful cashmere sweaters (darned, but detectable), a chiffon scarf, and most recently a pair of tights with wool in them. Good save. I suggest Butterick B5032 for a replacement. Nice and easy to put together and quite similar to the one you have. It has a waist seam which will allow you to get the close fit you have on the existing dress, and you could make a belt to match.
Thanks! And thank you for the pattern suggestion, that’s very close to the original. I quite fancy the little cape too.
I’m not sure I would go for quite so close a fit if I did try to make a replacement, I look at these photos and I think… “coo, you can tell that we’ve just spent a week at a small coastal town with not one but two very good fish and chip shops!”
Brilliant work. You’d hardly know it
Thanks!
D’oh! I’ve never had a problem with moths but I know they hate cedar. At least that’s what I’ve read.