T-shirt to baby dress refashion

Hello!!! Is anyone else in shock that February is pretty much over?? I mean seriously, this year has absolutely flown by. I’m trying my best to clean out my closets before my official “Spring Cleaning” gets going. Unfortunately, I lack the ability to throw things away. Even if I haven’t worn something in years, there is this little voice in my head that says, “ No…. I can’t give you up!!” Like this t-shirt:

Ok. I’m almost 27 and have two kids. Really, I don’t need to wear this anymore. But isn’t it cute??? I love pirate stuff! Skulls and crossbones are just freaking awesome and black is my favorite color. I’ve already got a small collection of pirate-y stuff for my Little Man, but Baby Girl’s collection is seriously lacking. So, I decided to refashion this into a cute little dress for her! One great perk about this being an older tee, is that it’s already gotten that broken-in super soft feel already.

Now, I am not a seamstress by any means, so this means that I’m probably not doing things the “right” way. This is just how I do it. Warning! The way I do things may only make sense to me and seem like complete and utter nonsense to the casual onlooker.

 

First thing’s first! I pressed it to make sure there wouldn’t be any sewing/cutting oopsies because of wrinkles.

Then I cut out the neck and put it aside. I’ll be using that later ;) Next, I turn it inside out.

I go to her closet and grab something that she can wear that she still has a little room for growth. I lay it over the shirt to get a rough size to work with.

The actually dress I’m making is sleeveless so I just fold them over. I have a handy white charcoal pencil from my art supplies that is perfect for tracing what I need.

I’m just doing a simple a-line dress so I just do a straight line and mark where the arm holes and the top will be and pin in place.

Then I go ahead and stitch the sides, then trim off the excess. This makes it easier for me to not to cut off too much material because I have a tendency to get a little snip happy with scissors. I’m not the only one right??

Before I sew up the shoulders, I fold my shirt in half and cut the neck so it is even. Then I cut off the bottom.

After that, I stitch the shoulders and turn it right side out again. I pull out the front and fold it in half and cut it just a bit lower so it doesn’t choke her.

I make some ruffles to sew on the sleeves from some left over material (here is a great tutorial for making knit ruffles for awesome t-shirts here) and I made some rosettes for the bottom out of the neck and sleeve trim. I don’t have pics on how I made the rosettes, because it wouldn’t make sense even if I tried to explain them. But never fear, you can find another tutorial here.

Ain't she a cutie??

Arrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Do you ever use give your kids your hand-me-downs? :)