refurbished t-shirt dress tutorial

so in my other etsy shop, hemmed in vintage, i used to specialize in vintage tee refurbishing and gameday dresses. these dresses were the first thing i learned to sew and so i think they are super easy. i hope they end up being easy for you too! 

you can also do this same cut out and tutorial with cute designer fabric and make just a cute summer dress, like this

i'll probably show how to make one of those with straps or a halter strap next week! :)

(i apologize for the flash being used in the photos...this was done later yesterday afternoon and my studio didn't have enough light for the camera!)

what you'll need is two tshirts. one for the top, one for the bottom. typically, when i do custom orders i ask for two Large to XL shirts. the more fabric you have to work with, the easier it is. i usually use the "logo" for the top and the "blank" for the bottom, but wanted to switch it up for this one. 

you will also need two strands of elastic, safety pin, scissors, thread, a sewing machine and....THAT'S IT!

let's do this!

step 1: cut out your shapes. on your "skirt" piece, use the complete bottom hem of the tshirt, find the middle, go up 20-23 inches (depending on how long you want it) and mark. from that mark, make a horizontal line anywhere from 16-20 inches, depending on your size. i typically do 17...and make sure it is centered! from the edges of those lines, make an a-line to the bottom hem corners. 

 (please don't use green chalk, i just wanted to make sure you could see it!)

on the "top" piece, make a rectangle the same length as your skirt top and anywhere from 7-9 inches tall. i typically do 7.5 inches and am a small B cup. when i am making dresses for girls with C or D cups, i do at least 8"

step 2: serge or sew the sides of both pieces, wrong sides facing out and right sides facing in. 

when you are done with this step, you should have these two pieces:

step 3: this part is tricky & not easily photograhed so read carefully. turn your skirt piece RIGHT side out & your top piece INSIDE OUT. if your top piece has a logo, then make sure it is upside down. line up the edges like so:

sew ALL the way around with about a 5/8" seam.

now flip the dress totally inside out and lay the flap DOWN. 

sew that all the way around, but leave an inch or so opening. this is your elastic casing for the waist.

step 4: now sew a top hem/casing on your top piece about the width of your elastic & leave an opening to feed the elastic through.

it should look something like this at this point:

step 5: feed your elastic through both hems

 making sure they aren't twisted anywhere, sew them flat together, overlapping about an inch or so. i do a zig zag stitch forwards and backwards about 6 times.

step 6: add any straps, embellishments, patches, etc. 

step 7: put it on, put on some boots, admire your work and look stinkin' cute! :)

there ya go! anyone know anyone who would be in the market for a roger creager dress? haha

if you have any questions, please email me! i'll be happy to answer them :)

we are leaving for texas today! 

***FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY***

love.