T-shirt Dresses

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This weekend I went to a Goodwill with a friend and purchased 6 long sleeve T-shirts for a total of $18. Originally I was inspired to buy a few T-shirts to make a dress similar to this for my daughter....

(click on the picture to get to the original blog with a tutorial of this dress)

Well one thing led to another and before I knew it I had six T-shirts in my cart and my brain was whirling with ideas for dresses.  I went home and made two that night!  I think all the colors coordinate very well together and I plan to mix and match fabrics on different dresses.  Any left over sleeves will become leggings.  A complete fall wardrobe for $18!

Here are the T-shirts I purchased.

Dress #1

Here's how I did it with no pattern.

I choose a shirt from Sophia's closet that fits her nicely.  I laid it on top of the adult shirt where the necks of both shirts seemed to meet.  Then I traced around the shoulder and armhole seams with chalk. 

I cut out the front along the chalk lines.  Then cut out the back by laying the front down flat and cutting around the edges.  I did have to take the neck edge from the original back and sew it onto the newly cut back neck.  Next you sew up the side seams and shoulder seams.  

To cut the sleeves I used Sophia's original shirt again.  And traced the edges with chalk.

Sew up the seam and set it into the dress and Your done!  The nice part about this was I didn't have to hem the dress or the sleeves or finish the neck because they were finished already.  I hand sewed a scrap into the keyhole and sewed on a pocket from the original shirt.

Dress #2

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Using the same technique as dress #1 I traced a shirt of Sophia's and cut out the front.  I wanted a racer back on the dress, so I improvised and ended up with a piece like this...

I had fun playing with the pieces on my dress form and I decided this would be a great ideas for adults, too!  I want one.

I borrowed a little embroidered flowers from a skirt I purchased for myself at the thrift store that was too big.  And then I sewed on some flowers from the same fabric I used on the armholes.  For the armholes I cut strips of T-shirt 5/8 inch wide and zigzagged them on.  I wanted that unfinished look with the edges curling.  

Not bad for one night's work.