Upcycling a Dress into a Shirt

On Saturday morning, Bill wanted all the kids outside first thing to help dig up all the potatoes in our garden. (I was heading to the church for a fun-filled craft day, part of which I was teaching.)  I told the kids to put on their work clothes (i.e. not good school clothes), plus it was still a chilly morning. So Chloe comes down the stairs in her good capris, flip flops, and this super cute shirt, inside-out and backwards. She is 6, don't quite know what was going on with the shirt.  Anyway, as I was taking her back upstairs telling her EXACTLY what she should wear, I realized I never posted about her super cute shirt I made.  Did a little scan through the pictures and realized, yes, I took pictures for it and everything and never posted. So here it is, the transformation of a dress into a shirt.

 Before                                                                                                  After

Before - Chloe in her modeling pose, I guess.

This was one of Chloe's very favorite dresses, mine too, for that matter.  I was so sad as I realized it was too short to wear to church anymore.  I couldn't give it up.  It sat in her closet for a few weeks, then in my sewing pile for a few more weeks, just waiting for inspiration to strike.  Then it came as I was visiting Make it and Love it and came across this tutorial.  Perfect!!  Basically, you cut the dress off to the length you want (plus enough for a hem.)  Have your subject try on the shirt and mark where you want the waist.  Remember, as I found out the hard way, after your shirt is gathered with the elastic, it will ride up a little more so take that into consideration when marking the waist.  Then you cut a 1" strip of material from the leftover dress.  You're going to make a casing for the elastic with this strip.  Pin the strip onto where you marked the waist (on the inside of the shirt) and sew close to the edge, leaving a small 2" opening on the bottom.  Cut a piece of 1/2" elastic just a little bigger than your subjects waist, you want it to gather up, but not be tight. Pin a safety pin on one end of your elastic (great tip for threading elastic or anything else) and start feeding it through the opening.  Once it's all the way through, overlap the two ends and stitch on top of them. Work the elastic the rest of the way through and adjust all your gathers.  Have your little girl try it on and admire your crafty genius!  Then call all your friends and family and tell them how awesome you are. Oh, is that only me who does that?  It really is pretty darn simple again check out Make It and Love It if you need more detailed instructions with great pictures.  She also shows you how to make short sleeves out of long sleeves.

After - Yup, still striking a pose. 

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This shirt was featured on:
Leafy Treetop Spot

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