Upcycling Sewing Tutorial: Sew a Little Dress from a Men’s Shirt
What you need
- An old shirt
- The pattern in the correct size
- Fabric scissors
- Thread (preferably matching the jeans)
- Sewing machine
- Pins
- Iron
Sewing instructions
1. First, print, cut out, and assemble the pattern.
2. Then you can cut the shirt into its individual pieces. The resulting pieces are two sleeves and the left and right sides of the front; if there are yokes, remove those as well. Depending on the position of the pocket and the pattern on the fabric, detach the pocket, then press everything.
3. You can now begin cutting. The shirt's front pieces will become the two back pieces of the dress. Place the shirt's back piece on the fold and cut out the front piece of the dress. The remaining fabric scraps will become the facings: two pieces for the back and one piece cut on the fold for the front.
4. You can now begin sewing and close the center back and side seams of the dress. Then join the facings together as well.
5. Next, turn the dress right side out (the beautiful side) and pull the facing over it. The right sides should now be facing each other (beautiful side against beautiful side).
6. Then close the armholes. When you turn the facing to the inside of the dress, the seam allowance should now lie between the facing and the dress. For a smoother fit, this seam allowance can be stitched close to the edge from the right side onto the facing (0.2 cm from the seam). Then iron the facing flat onto the inside of the dress.
7. For the ties, separate the sleeves and cut off their caps. Stitch these together and press the seam allowances open. You can now cut the ties according to the instructions.
8. To prepare for attaching the bands more easily, press them beforehand. To do this, press each one once along the fold, unfold it, and press both outer edges against the fold.
9. To attach the two ties, mark the center of each tie and the center of the front/back piece with a pin, and pin the tie to the inside while it is unfolded. Now stitch the tie to the inside, at presser-foot width (0.5 cm). Fold the tie toward the outside and pin it in place so that the seam is covered. Before closing the tie, unfold and turn up both open ends completely so that the right sides are facing each other. Stitch this closed at presser-foot width as well, then turn it back into the inside of the tie. (Note: this is a little fiddly.) To close the tie completely, stitch a nearly edge-stitching seam on the outside of the dress, from one side across the dress to the other side.
10. Finally, finish the hem of the dress and the facing, press them up by one centimeter, and topstitch them slightly more than presser-foot width from the edge.
Now you have a cute little dress :)
