A 'new' dress!

One of my goals this month is to actually do some sewing for me.  I have a huge pile of clothes that are just waiting to be refashioned, some I've bought from op shops, others from my maternity stash that need taking in a mile or two.   

So whilst I have the luxury of no assignments hanging over my head, and with Andrew home today, I took the chance to finally finish this dress.  In a past life it was a XL dress shirt.  I think it cost me about $4.

Inspiration came from a number of other great tutorials online for shirt refashions like this one  and this one.

 So want to know how I did it?  Ok, let's go.

1. I started by cutting the sleeves off. I left a little bit at this stage, but ended up cutting the rest off later. It will all depend on how you want the sleeves to fit.

2. Unpick the pocket.

3. Try it on inside out and pin the sides and sleeves in to fit.  Also pin a marking underneath the bust to give you a cutting guide.  I sewed the sides first, then cut, but it doesn't really matter which you do first.

4. Measure the bottom of the bodice piece to know how long you will need your band.  Apologies for no photos of this part (I think I was on a role and forgot to take pics).  Basically I just cut a piece of fabric twice as long and twice as wide, plus seam allowances.  Sew two sides (one will be folded), turn inside out and top stitch the remaining side.  I also added an extra row of stitching to match the look of the strip in the middle of the original shirt.

5. Pin band to top with right sides together.

6. Sew band onto bodice, turn and iron flat.  At this point I also cut my sleeves completely off and hemmed them. 

7. Pin bottom piece of original shirt onto the bottom of the band with right sides together.  Pin the ends first, then gather the shirt as you go to create a gathered look.  Sew together, turn and iron flat.

8. Try your dress on at this point and check it fits. I had to sew the waist in a bit more at this point.

9. I then made a bow in the same fashion as in this tutorial. I stitched the bow on and used a snap to replace the missing button and to hold the second side of the bow to the dress. I also added one extra button the bottom of the dress.

That's it!  Put your dress on and find a cranky baby to pose with.  What do you think?