Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Husband's Old Shirt = Daughter's New Dress

My cousin-in-law, Dana, whom I totally want to be like, made these adorable dresses for her daughter out of men's button front shirts. She posted an awesome tutorial as well. The skill level was easy, so I decided to take a crack at it. They were really easy to make, and this is coming from someone who rarely sews clothes!

I used the measurements that Dana used for her dresses and cut the shirts. However, I forgot to take into account my daughter's huge barrel chest, so they do fit a little snugly. I made the blue one first, using the instructions from the tutorial.
Since I had already cut out the yellow shirt, I thought it would be a good idea to have access to the buttons so I could actually get the thing on my daughter. The blue dress has the sash sewn straight onto the dress and the collar is sewn shut, so no opening the neck. Hmmm. I decided to make the sash separate and tie it around the back in a bow. I still need to add some small belt loops along either side of the dress.

I think I quite like this idea. She can wear it with or without a sash, and I could make different colors of sashes as well. Might be a good idea for a solid white or black shirt dress.
Anyway, these are so fun to make. My husband is lucky he has any shirts left in his closet. I am going to have to find more shirts at thrift stores! Thanks, Dana, for the easy-to-follow instructions and the new obsession!

6 comments:

  1. Connie, I LOVE these! they came out great! And what a fabulous idea with the belt/sash.
    Thanks for sending the link. When more come in, I'm going to post a medley of pictures on the site and will include yours!

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  2. I have been eyeing these shirt dresses on Dana's blog for quite some time now. I even just bought the elastic today so that I can make one someday. :) My problem is all Jim's old shirts have logos embroidered onto them. Hmm. But anyway, I'm glad Dana is your cousin-in-law. It makes me feel less stalker-ish for reading her blog all the time. :) Is she related to me too? :) Oh, and your dresses turned out super cute too. :)

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  3. Dana married a cousin on my Willard side, so no, she's not related to you, Debbie. But you could always call her your 2nd cousin's cousin-in-law! That sounds so confusing, no one will question it!

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  4. Those are super cute Connie! Great idea.

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  5. I love this idea! That is adorable, and I think it's so sweet for the girl to have her daddy's shirt for her dress... makes me think of "daddy's little girl"

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