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T-shirt Dress or Nightgown Tutorial

Even though I am very new to sewing, somehow I got it into my head that I could make this darling dress out of a t-shirt and blog about it. In the end the dress looks more like a nightgown, but perhaps more experienced seamstresses will have better luck.

BYU's logoImage via WikipediaWe are big fans of BYU (Brigham Young University). Digital Man especially loves BYU football.

It has been a couple years since we purchased BYU apparel and we just couldn't pass up getting the 2010 BYU Football $5 t-shirt. Both Robo Dude and Cyber Princess needed one too, but the youth sizes were too big for Cyber Princess. So I decided to put my creative hat on and make a dress for her out of an adult size t-shirt.

1) First you need an adult sized t-shirt. This one is a medium.
(You may want to try the shirt on the girl to get an idea of dress length and sleeve length. If the dress is too long, you may want to get a smaller shirt, try a different t-shirt dress, or be prepared to hem the bottom. I think this is where I messed up.)

Lay the t-shirt on a flat surface and smooth it out (iron it if you like).



2) Take a shirt that currently fits your child and lay it on top, lining up the top seams of the shirts.



3) Cut below the bottom of the sleeves in towards the top shirt. Then follow along the body of the shirt in a straight line down through the bottom of seam of the adult size t-shirt. Be sure to leave a 1/2 inch seam allowance. (If you want an a-line skirt than flare out to the bottom.)




4) Repeat the previous step along the other arm and side.



5) Your cut out shirt should look something look like this.



6) Pin the right sides together, making sure to match up the seams. Leaving a half inch seam allowance, stitch down the edge of the sleeve, then turn and stitch down to the bottom of the dress. Repeat on the other side. Don't forget to backstitch.


7) Cyber Princess modeling the finished product.


I was hoping to make something that looked like Happy Together's darling Roses and Ruffles t-shirt dress, but with long sleeves.


This is how it looks after I attempted to put roses on the bottom. So what do you think? Do you have any ideas on how to make it look more like a play dress and less like a night gown?

1 comment:

  1. 1. making it shorter might help.

    2. it needs "broken up" somehow. There is just too much length of the same thing (long, navy blue). Maybe use some of the origional hem and make ties for the back, at empire height?

    3. perhaps letting it "flare out" a little more from the waist down? Nightgowns are usually straight, where dresses typically flare.

    ReplyDelete

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