Things to Make: Repurposed T-Shirt Dress

Okay...

So I might have found a new passion (as if I needed a new one! lol) - re-purposing clothing! Suddenly my eyes have been opened to a whole new way to look at things! I've been totally inspired by this site and this one. It seems to me that instead of spending a fortune on clothes that I only like a little, (especially since i don't have said $$$ right now anyway!) I should take what I have and make it into something I LOVE!

I've always been one of those people who looks at scraps of something and can imagine it being something different and wonderful!

So going on with my repurposed t-shirt project (found here) I decided to try and make something for my littlest girl. She is obsessed with being a princess...and pretty much refuses to wear anything that isn't either: pink, ruffled, or a dress...and preferably a combination of the three!

So I started with a Pajama shirt of mine. The shirt was in great shape...barely used. I got it for FREE at a clothing exchange our church group had recently! The problem was that it just didn't fit me right. It was too short and the arm holes were too big. The fabric is a yummy super soft knit...and the color is fantastic - LOVE!


I folded the shirt in half and cut a dress shape out of it. (I freehanded mine...I don't recommend this unless you have a really good eye and a steady hand! I did have to do a little adjusting after the fact!)


Then I unfolded it and pinned the side seams together, and sewed in place.


Next I took the scraps that were left over and cut them into strips. I stitched down the center of the strips and gathered them into ruffles. The sleeves had this lovely little lettuce edging that I also cut off and used (more on that later).

I pinned and stitched the ruffles down the front of the dress...like little tuxedo ruffles!


I also added a ruffle over the top, and gathered the lettuce edging into a little rosette, and then stitched those down, too!

The last bit of lettuce edging was used to make this cute little hair pin. I gathered the ruffle and stitched into place, adding a cute vintage button in the center. Then I stitched it to a bobby pin...so adorable!


Here's the finished dress!


And here's the princess!


She loves it! I know it will be a great addition to her royal wardrobe...and the best part? It was totally FREE! Can't beat that!

Things to Make: T-Shirt Refashion

So as I was looking at some project ideas the other day I came across Tea Rose Home - a fantastic blog about sewing crafts for the home and to wear! She had a wonderful tutorial on how to transform a regular plain jane t-shirt into something fancy and elegant! I just had to give it a try!

I started with a plain grey t-shirt, and an old ripped shirt of my hubby's.


I cut the old shirt into strips.


Machine stitched them with a loose stitch and gathered them into ruffles.


Pinned the ruffles into place on the new shirt, and then sewed them into place.


For the flower I took a strip of fabric and sewed down the middle and gathered it.


I then folded it in half and began rolling and stitching it into place, until it looked like this:


The ties were made from a strip of fabric that I just pulled until it was all stretched out. I also added an extra ruffle 'leaf'.


The last step was to stitch everything into place!


I think the finished piece looks great, and it was such a fun way to take a plain old clearance rack t-shirt and transform it into a boutique worthy part of your wardrobe!