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.
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.
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.
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?
