Woman Refuses to Pay Back Friend After Altering Borrowed Dress Without Permission.

What started as a simple favor between friends has turned into a messy disagreement about boundaries, etiquette, and who should cover the fallout.

A 24-year-old Reddit user explained that about a month ago, a close friend (23F) asked to borrow a blue satin bridesmaid dress for an upcoming wedding. The poster had worn the dress recently at a blue-themed wedding and didn’t hesitate to lend it out.

“She WAS a really good friend so I didn’t really mind helping her out,” she wrote.

After the wedding, the friend returned the dress — but not before dropping a bombshell. She admitted she’d had it altered because she was smaller and preferred a tighter fit.

“I was shocked. Gagged. Confused. IDEK how to feel about it,” the poster said.

For her, the problem wasn’t just that the dress had been taken in. It was that her friend never asked first. She questioned whether it isn’t basic etiquette to return something you borrow in the same condition you received it.

The friend apologized and offered to pay for adjustments to make it fit again. But the poster wasn’t convinced that was even possible. She said the dress had been altered noticeably at the bust and waist, leaving her unsure it could be restored to its original size.

When the friend suggested they just sell the dress, the poster pushed back. Since the friend had chosen to permanently change it, she asked her to buy it instead.

At first, the friend agreed — until she heard the price.

“She asked how much, and when I told her it was $90, she straight up told me it was too much,” the poster wrote. “That she wasn’t willing to pay that much for a dress that has been used.”

The original owner felt the amount was fair. She’d paid nearly $120 for it, still liked the style, and had planned to wear it again.

Unsure whether she was being unreasonable, she asked other Redditors if her request was valid.

Most commenters backed her up, saying the friend crossed a clear line by altering something she didn’t own.

“She was way out of line. No one would think that’s a reasonable thing to do without asking,” one person wrote, adding that the friend chose a “beg forgiveness later” approach with a change that might not be reversible.

Another commenter offered a blunt takeaway: don’t lend or borrow anything you can’t afford to lose.

A seamstress also weighed in, noting that restoring the dress could easily cost around $90 — if it can be done at all. Whether it’s fixable depends on how the tailor handled the alterations. If extra fabric was preserved, seams might be reopened. But if the fabric was trimmed away — which is common — the only options might involve adding panels or getting creative with leftover material.