Easy DIY T-shirt Dress! Sew Simple I Can Do It!

 Easy DIY T-shirt Dress! Sew Simple I Can Do It!

So, I have mentioned I am less than a novice at sewing. I am slllooowwwwllllyyyy learning how to make different things though. I think my fear is what has stopped me in the past from attempting things, and I have vowed to try something new when it comes to sewing at least once a week. This weeks project stemmed from a trip to the craft store. It only took one phrase from my daughter and I knew what I would be trying. She said “Mom, I really like that dress”. She was referring to one of the beautifully displayed dress in the fabric section.  If you know The Girl, she is pretty much anti dress. So, if she showed in interest in a dress, than gosh darn it, I was going to make it!

Items Needed:

For this project I used 1yd of fabric, if you are making an adult size you may need up to 2yds.

Coordinating thread

Extra wide double fold bias tape (I just discovered this stuff and I am in love with it!)

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Large Piece of paper (I used old wrapping paper)

Pencil or marker

T-shirt that fits

Iron

Directions:

I started off with taking one of The Girls T-shirts to use as a pattern. I folded it in half and placed the folded edge to my wrapping paper. I traced around the t-shirt, adding about 1 inch to allow for seam allowance. I would rather it be a little to big, than small since I could always make alterations to fit better later.

 I than took a measurement by having the The Girl put the shirt on and measuring how long I wanted the dress to be. I added 1 inch to the length again for seam allowance and than drew it onto the pattern.

Next, I cut out the pattern and sat it aside. Since my fabric I was using was pretty wide, I folded each end to meet in the center so I could cut both sides of the dress with out a lot of waste. Place the flat edge of the pattern to the folded edge of the fabric and pin and cut. You will need to do this twice so you have a front and back.

 Once the easy part was over I went to pinning. I decided I did not want to use bias tape on the bottom hem, so I folded the bottom edges over twice and ironed and pinned into place.

 For the sleeves and neck line I cut my bias tape to length and pinned those into place.

 After everything was pinned into place, I got to sewing. For each side I sewed the neckline, sleeves and bottom hem. After all of those were sewn into place, I put both sides together so that the pretty sides were facing in towards each other.

I started on one side at the bottom hem and sewed around until I reached the sleeve, I readjusted the the dress to skip sewing over the sleeve and sewed the shoulder, and did this until I reached the other sides bottom hem. Just be sure to avoid sewing over the neckline and sleeves.

After all of the sewing was done, I trimmed all of the excess thread and turned it right side out. For me being a less than novice sewer, this project took me roughly 30 minute to complete! The Girl was actually super excited about it, which made doing this DIY T-Shirt Dress that much more worth the effort!

 Anyone else a sewing novice?