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
Erika B says
Such a cute idea! I am just getting back into sewing after *many* years away… My 8 year old is so happy with her new dress! I did change it up by using an oriental print with a mandarin collar. Also I left out the shirring and did gathers at either side with elastic, and added a sash. It turned out super cute. Now I’m recharged to sew everything I see!
AV says
I LOVE this upcycle! I decided to give it a try! It turned out DARLING!!! My daughter is 6 years old and for the first one I used a ladies size large shirt so I had to do mine a little differently, also I didn’t have the elastic thread to do the shirring so I improvised a little but it still turned out so cute! I also decided to give it a little extra pop and changed out the buttons on mine! Would you mind if I sent a pic in an email to get your feedback? I have more shirts (men’s x-larges) and bought some elastic thread so I am ready to shirr and make another! Thank you so much for the idea!
Ashley
Anonymous says
I JUST found your blog via Pinterest, and I love it… such neat ideas and fantastic decorating. One question, I can’t seem to Pin stuff. Wonder if I’m doing something wrong? I wanted to pin the dad’s dress shirts to girl dresses.. that is SUCH a cute idea!
Kendra
Anonymous says
ohh so beautiful.. I just used this idea and made one for my princess from a pink satin shirt, LOVE IT. I just have no clue how to do the shirring. But i saw that you used a elastic thread, so now I just have to find one. (So glad i didn´t try to do the shirring without the elestic thread
Anonymous says
This is a wonderful idea and the dress turned out gorgeous, best idea I’ve seen as far as repurposing clothing, too bad I don’t have a little girl to make this for, but if I did I certainly would apply this idea to an old shirt, got any ideas for grownups to apply these ideas too would love to see them
Nathalie Swiss says
Haha! I pissed my husband off. I sewed his polo shirt to remove some leftover threads and I got careless and it all ripped off! 😀
Haha! Just learning my first sewing experience.
Thanks for the tips.
Regards,
Nathalie
I love my Brother xl2600i!
Anonymous says
I’m making this for my granddaughter right now. Question: Did you do anything to the back of the shirt? or just leave it like the back of a man’s shirt? Once shirring is in place it seems very full at the sides behind the shirring. I haven’t tried it on my granddaughter since she lives hours away. Just checking!
Stef says
HI! For this dress, I did not do anything to the back and the fit was fine. However, when I initially cut down the shirt, I cut it not much wider than a 2Tish dress. You could add shirring all the way around the back, too. Also, I found that I needed to go in and stitch down the button placket where the shirring was so that it didn’t gap when worn – does that make sense? I know your granddaughter will love it whether it’s a little wide or not!!
Kat says
I just made this for my daughter!I would love to share the photos, but I’m not sure how. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3889305706328.160959.1089537560&type=1#!/kat.newman.7This is the link to the pics on my facebook, but you might need to friend request to see them. (I am not very good at techie stuff)
Dorri says
Aw so cute and such an adorable little girl.
Tara says
I love this dress! I linked to it in a roundup of button-down refashions on my blog http://www.true-pure-lovely.blogspot.com. Thanks for the great tutorial!
OlaP says
hi! my english is`t perfect…
can i show your blog and pictures this dress on my blog???
i made this dress but i must show yours:D
April says
So cute! I love this dress!
Ravyk says
Gorgeous! I have been hoarding away some of my partners old shirts, the fabric was too nice to throw away. Now I know what I’ll be doing with them!
Ces says
love!
feelincrafty says
This is adorable! I think I’m going to gv it a try. The shirring scares me though!