Daddy's Old T-Shirt Dress

     I really wanted to blog about this earlier, but unfortunately I had to use my set aside "blog-time" to clean off my computer. Apparently you cannot upload new photos onto your hard drive when you only have .5GB left of memory! Who would've thought. Computer savvy, I am not.

     I came up with this idea after attempting to use an old T-shirt to make a peplum shirt for myself. I say "attempting" because although it looked cute, it was really uncomfortable and uneven. I must try again and post about that. But in the meantime, I shall post about my fabulously successful T-shirt dress for my daughter! I get so excited when things actually work on the first try.
      Things you'll need:

• the basic sewing supplies (cutter, mat, thread, machine, pins...)
• an old T-shirt (I used a men's medium for this size 4 kids dress)
• a kids dress to use as a guide
• bias tape, ribbon, or lace for the optional cap sleeves

 I used a shirt that I loved, but was all stained with paint. I figured I could mostly use unstained portions of the shirt, although there is still paint all over the dress. Next time, I'll use an unstained shirt. With this project, I used another dress as a guideline (or you could use a kids shirt as a guideline and just add length). If you don't have a dress to use as a guide, I made a few measurements, but these would only work for a size 4 dress.

 Using your chosen dress as a guide, cut the sleeveless shell of the top part of your dress. The bottom of this shell should hit mid-thigh on your little one because you are going to be adding a ruffle at the bottom. I used the existing neck whole and shoulder seems at the top.

 After cutting the shell, I folded it in half just to make sure that the sides, angles, and sleeve holes were all even.         *If you didn't have a dress (or shirt) to use as a guide, here are the measurements I took: from top to bottom it's 17 inches, 15 inches across at the bottom, 11 inches across at the bottom of the arm hole, 11 inches from the start of the arm hole down, and each shoulder is 3 inches across. I hope these extra directions make sense, or at least they give you a place to start.      

 Next, cut the piece that will ultimately become the ruffle. Using the bottom of the shirt, with the hem included, cut a piece that's 6 inches by 20 inches (that is how wide the shirt was, if your shirt is wider or smaller, I am sure it will work just fine.)        

For the cap sleeves, cut a triangle that is 5x5x7 and then cut a curved edge. Cap sleeves are definitely optional, but I thought they were cute.

Using your bias tape, ribbon, or lace (I used bias tape) fold it over and pin it to the curved part of the cap sleeves. I then used a zig zag stitch to secure the tape, and to give it a little extra detail. You could also use none of these, and just fold the curved edges over and sew a small hem.

Once your sleeves are finished, pin them to the shoulders of the dress (above). Center the sleeves and make sure that they are even. (I have a tendency to just eyeball things and regret it later.) Sew down the sleeves, and again I used a zig zag stitch.

After the sleeves are attached, pin the remainder of  the arm holes down for a very small hem, and sew a zig zag stitch very close to the edge. I feel like a large hem with this type of fabric would be very bulky in the arm hole. 

Reverse sides together, sew the sides of your dress! (after pinning of course) At this point, I actually put the dress on my daughter to check the size. I honestly thought the arm holes were too large, so I sewed diagonally inward on both sides to make them a little smaller. 

With the right side out on the top of the dress, and the right side in on the "ruffle" of the dress, place the two together as shown in the photo above. Center the "ruffle" piece. 

It is hard to see in this picture because of the resolution, but when I make a ruffle I just fold fabric in little bits and pin (starting in the center). There is no real science to it, although I attempt to give the ruffles equal spacing. There are other ways to make a ruffle, like using a basting stitch, and pulling, but I like this method best. Sew the bottom, trim all the thread, turn your dress inside out and there you have it! Cute comfiness from one of Daddy's old shirts!