Yes I did. I chopped up one of my hardworking man’s old dress shirts and turned it into the cutest little dress for Grace. My interest in such a project was piqued by others in blogland and by a darling little dress I saw in the kids Garnet Hill catalog. I didn’t take pictures along the way because I did it at night and I honestly wasn’t sure it would turn out. But if you want to give it a go, I scribbled some lines on a photo for you. If you try it and get stuck, shoot me an email and I’ll tell you what I did. Here’s the basic rundown:
- remove upper collar, topstitch lower collar closed again
- remove pockets
- chop up shirt into basic A-line dress, leaving collar and buttons intact (be sure to cut front and back together, they’ll be connected at the top)
- use sleeve fabric to cut out two new sleeves – here is a great little tutorial on how to sew a puff sleeve and here is a standard sleeve pattern that you can download and use that tutorial to sew for this dress.
- sew front to back along side seams
- hem bottom
- attach new sleeves
- sew rows of shirring across front; I sewed 9 rows about ¼ inch apart each – be sure the two sides of shirring match up when the shirt is buttoned closed
- sew on cute bows (or not!)
If you’re lucky, your cute little model will have as much fun in her new dress as mine did!
Comments & Reviews
Nancy says
That girls grey dress is beautiful. You made it look like a boutique outfit. Thanks for sharing.
girlinspired says
Thank you so much, Nancy!
onel says
What a smart refashion!! The dress is so pretty!!
Trish says
Hi! I’ve been scanning Men’s Shirt-to-Dress tutorials for awhile, and this is the one I have settled on to make first, it’s gorgeous!
My question: It looks like you removed the pockets, is that correct? If so, were there obvious holes left after picking out all the threads, and if so, did the shirring camouflage them? I scanned the comments first and didn’t see an answer to this, sorry if you already answered it and I missed it!
Thanks for putting this tutorial out on the web for us all!
girlinspired says
Hi Trish, I did remove the pockets, and you could see some stitch lines, but once I pressed and steamed over the area, and then added shirring, you couldn’t see a thing. Have fun!
Kellie Fluegge says
Would you mind emailing me a print/copy of the pattern you used for the sleeves? Thank you so much! [email protected]
girlinspired says
Hi Kellie, I’m sorry – I made the dress so many years ago, I have no idea which sleeve pattern I used, but any puff sleeve would do, I’m sure.
Melanie says
My sister has done this for her granddaughter with really pretty women’s shirts and they are adorable. Love this.
KChu says
Of all the repurposing a man’s dress shirt, this is my favorite. Can’t wait to make one. Even though you don’t have step by step photos, the drawings and few steps explain it perfectly well. Thank you!
Dewi Maria says
this is super cute !!!
I’ll give it a try today, even i’m not sure how to deal with the collar 😛
shawn says
Loooooove this sooo much!! Great idea! Wish I’m good at sewing 🙁