12
Aug
Aug
So far, I’ve made these two dresses from old shirts I had. They are definitely not perfect, but Abs likes them, so I guess that’s what matters.
This was a super simple project. Can’t believe I didn’t make one sooner. Here’s a tutorial for you:
Lay a dress or shirt of your toddler’s on top of the shirt you’re going to cut. Make sure the necklines match up and fold the sleeves in on the toddler shirt.
Draw around the top item with disappearing ink pen, and then, cut around the lines.
Cut around the neckline.
Then cut the back side of the dress to be closer to the neckline- Sew up the sides with a straight stitch and then a zigzag stitch.
- Then sew around the arm holes and stitch the back part, too.
- Then, cut the neckline in the middle on the back part (where the tag used to be), and sew the ends onto the back of the dress, to make spaghetti straps.
You’re done, unless you want to embellish more. The first one, I decided to make some flowers with the left over fabric. (I was a little worried that the flowers wouldn’t hold up in the wash, but they stayed perfectly intact!)
For the second dress, I made ruffles. I’ve cut out 4 other shirts, but I haven’t gotten around to sewing them into dresses, yet. Any ideas for other ways to dress up the dresses??
Oh, I learned from making the first one that I should’ve make the bottom part of the dress more like an A-line.
I also made these bows to match the dress themes:
Let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any questions.
Related posts:
- How to Make: Baby Legwarmers (Tutorial)
- Inexpensive Wall Art for Baby (Tutorial)
- How to Make: Fabric Headbands
Emily Stringer
August 12, 2010 at 10:09 amI have to make one of these for Graysen.
lori
August 12, 2010 at 3:06 pm@Emily- YES! And the great thing about it is that if you happen to mess up, it won’t matter much because it’s a free project! Those are the best!
AmyLenn
August 16, 2010 at 2:10 amHi Lori,
Just thought I’d let you know I tried to do a write up of how to make the apron in the comments. Let me know if you have questions. And I’ll take pictures next time!
Your blog is great and so is this shirt dress tutorial! Thanks for stopping by ours
http://amylenn.blogspot.com/2010/08/strawberry-cloth.html
lori
August 16, 2010 at 11:19 am@AmyLenn- Thanks for visiting my blog to let me know you responded. And thank you for taking the time to write out instructions!
Melissa Howard
August 16, 2010 at 3:06 pmGreat work!! I love the orange – such a nice warm, happy color.
lori
August 16, 2010 at 3:44 pm@Melissa- Thanks! I enjoyed looking at your dresses, too.
Jumping Jack
August 18, 2010 at 11:41 amHey there! Thanks for stopping by Jumping Jack! You are right – I do have ties to LBK! I graduated from Tech in 2003. I miss LBK terribly! Wreck ‘em TECH!
BTW -the t-shirt dress is super cute!
lori
August 18, 2010 at 12:01 pm@Jumping Jack- You’re welcome. And thanks for stopping by here, too.
Ruby Clifton
August 28, 2010 at 1:18 amA very nice concept indeed of utilizing the old dresses. The costs of kids wear is definitely skyrocketing these days. It’ll surely help to save some hard earned money.
lori
August 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm@ Ruby- Thanks for your comment. I’m making another dress today, in fact.
LUcy
October 22, 2010 at 2:15 pmHey, you are quick to reply! Just wanted to say hi. I e-mailed a link of this to my aunt. She loves stuff like this! You are so creative! Love it. Are you all in Lubbock still? We’ll be around in Dec/Jan. Love to see you. Your kids are soo big and so adorable. ANyway, peace to you all!
lori
October 24, 2010 at 2:38 pm@Lucy- Well thanks. Yeah, I saw your husband from a distance today, I think??
Evie Yamaguchi
March 19, 2011 at 10:23 pmWow, wonderful blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is wonderful, as well as the content!