T-Shirt Dress Tutorial

P
rincess only has a few summer dresses that fit her right now and, since she insists on wearing a dress pretty much everyday, it's time to add some more to her wardrobe!

This shirt had a stain right on the front of it so it was either headed for the rag bag or my sewing machine.  I cut about 4 inches off the bottom of the shirt.  
 

After picking out some pretty fabrics to go with the shirt, I was ready to go.  I measured the bottom of the shirt and came up with 11" across.  I doubled that measurement for the width of the top tier of the skirt and then doubled that again for the width of the bottom tier.  I held the shirt up to my daughter and measured how long I wanted the skirt portion to be (14" long), added 2 inches for seam allowances (16") and divided that in half (8") for each skirt tier.  My final measurements were 8" x 22" for the top tier and 8" x 44" for the bottom.  I cut out two pieces from each fabric using the above measurements.

I needed to do something to cover up the stain on the front of the shirt so I decided to add a heart shaped applique.  I used Heat N' Bond Lite (can be purchased at Walmart).  If you prefer the no-sew method of applique, you could use the Heat N' Bond UltraHold.  I followed the directions on the package for making the heart shape on the fabric and ironing it on the shirt.  To make it even cuter, I decided to cut out one heart from each of the skirt fabrics and layer the smaller one on top of the other.

 I set my stitch selector to the zig-zag stitch (setting "C" on my machine) for the applique.

I zigzagged all the way around the two heart shapes, being sure to straight stitch backwards a few stitches at the beginning and end of each set of stitches so they would hold.  You may have to stop and readjust your fabric a few times when you're going around the curves.

The shirt is finished!  Time to assemble the skirt portion.

 I pinned the ends, right sides together, of each of the two skirt tiers.  I sewed a straight stitch about 1/4" from the edges to make two big loops of fabric.

 To prevent fraying, I set my stitch selector back to the zig zag stitch and zig zagged the edges, making sure my needle fell just off the edge of the fabric with each stitch. 

 Setting aside the top tier, I folded the bottom edge of the bottom tier (the bigger loop) over about 1/4" and then folded it over again.

All pinned and ready to go!  I sewed a straight stitch close to the upper edge of my fold to hem the skirt.  Next, I sewed a gathering stitch (go here for a tutorial on easy gathering) on the top of the fabric and pinned it to the bottom of the top tier, right sides together.  I sewed a straight stitch and then zig zagged the edges so they wouldn't fray.  Then, I sewed another gathering stitch on the top of the top tier that would be attached to the t-shirt.  

The last step was to attach the skirt to the t-shirt.  Keeping the skirt inside out and the t-shirt right side out, I slid the t-shirt, sleeves and collar down, inside the skirt and lined up the bottom raw edges of the t-shirt with the raw edges of the top of the skirt.

When you're done pinning the two pieces together, you won't be able to see the t-shirt.  I sewed them together with a straight stitch, being careful not to stretch the t-shirt, and then finished the edges with a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying. 

Not sure what's up with the cheesy grin.

And here's the finished dress!  Princess is in love with it!  She wore it to church yesterday and got a ton of compliments.

This dress is linked up with "The Dress Project: Summer Challenge" at Bits and Pieces From My Life





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