Thursday, March 20, 2014

#DIY upcycle a shirt into a baby dress

I am all about reusing something old and repurposing it for something fresh and new. With spring cleaning under way I have been trying to make a dent in my closet and that means cleaning out clothing that I no longer use. Since a lot of my old tee shirts weren’t even good enough to donate to Goodwill, I set them aside for repurposing. This usually means that the old tee shirts get ripped up and using for rags, but this time around I decided to try and be a bit more creative. I decided that I wanted to upcycle an old tee shirt into a baby dress.

upcycle an old tee shirt into a pinafore baby dress #DIY #Sewing #Baby

I made this adorable pinafore dress based off of the Pinafore Dress Pattern from Smashed Peas and Carrots {she also provides a FABULOUS tutorial on making this dress using yards of fabric instead of old tee shirts}. I found her directions really easy to follow. And her pattern was perfect for my little 9 month old.

upcycle an old tee shirt into a pinafore baby dress #DIY #Sewing #Baby

upcycle an old tee shirt into a pinafore baby dress #DIY #Sewing #Baby

upcycle an old tee shirt into a pinafore baby dress #DIY #Sewing #Baby

I did not make buttons on my dress. Instead I just sewed the pieces together where you would have placed buttons. I did this because 1, I am not so fabulous at making button holes and 2, since I used an old tee shirt there was a lot of stretch and give in the fabric and I would be able to just slip it over her head.

I am hoping the get back in my sewing room to whip up some fabric flowers to embellish this dress with and hide my intermediate sewing skill snafus. All in all, this was a really easy dress to make and I think that I could even make an adult sized one for myself {although I would just make it a top instead of a dress as I am sure no one wants to see my rompers…. Somehow that is not as cute on adults.}!

My advice if you want to make this dress for your little one is to go visit Smashed Peas and Carrots and follow her fabulous tutorial. I did not make this a tutorial because I do not believe that I could have improved on her tutorial at all, it is really easy to follow and her pictures are great. But if you plan on making this dress by upcycling tee shirts remember to use lots of pins when laying out the pattern on the fabric {because my tee shirt was stretchy cotton - pinning was a MUST... as the fabric will move around as the fabric gets stretched a bit}.

Have you ever upcycled an old tee shirt?


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