Thursday, March 11, 2010

Altered Mens Shirt to a Sundress

I am going to attempt to give a tutorial on my conversion of this mens shirt to a sundress. I made it for my 11 year old daughter but you could make it smaller. If you want to make it bigger you will need to shirts that coordinate, one for the top and one for the bottom. If you need help contact me and I will try to walk you through it. It seems hard until you get going.
What you need:
Old mens shirt
Thread
Sewing machine (duh moment)
Serger if you have one

Measurments (TO TAKE THESE MEASUREMENTS I HAD MY DAUGTHER PUT ON A TANK AND PLACED PENCIL MARKS ON IT SO I KNEW WHERE THE "EMPIRESS WAIST" MEASUREMENT FELL AND WHERE THE "BELOW THE COLLARBONE" MEASUREMENT FELL. THIS WAY I HAD A REFERENCE POINT):

Chest circumference
Underarm to underarm
Center of chest to collarbone measurement spot
Spot where you want the opening to come down to in center of top (button area)
Just below the collarbone center down to empiress waist point (Sternum)
Underarm to empiress waist point (around the sternum)
Just below the collarbone to the back where the underarm falls (for strap make a little larger to accomodate any measurement error.)
First lay your shirt out and straighten it up.
Cut across the shirt just below the collar buttons (or collar if no buttons).
Cut the length you need for the skirt from the top down. Cut the shirt from the top to the bottom at an slight angle to cut off the edges. If you have a younger girl you might be able to get two lengths out of it to make a full skirt.
Using the lower part of your the shirt. Place the center measurement of chest (buttons)measurement on shirt. From that point put your measurement from underarm to underarm on the shirt (centered across from buttons both sides). Place center of chest to collarbone measurement on shirt (centered across from buttons both sides). Place the height from waist to collarbone on the shirt above the collarbone chest measurment. Draw a line from the height measurement to center point of chest. Should make a triangle shape (to cover breast area). DO NOT CUT YET.
Cut the side seams off of shirt section. To have two different pieces. Front and back. Now cut out the front--keeping the button section lined up (I pinned it together to keep in place). Measure the height of the underam section and cut the back to that height and then cut the half of the circumference measurment for the back. Cut straps from sleeves or other section usable for the length. I cut mine about 1 1/2 inches to fold over and make a 3/4 inch strap.
Serge around all edges. Top, back, skirt front and back (DO NOT TO HEM AND REMEMBER TO LEAVE BUTTON AREA OPEN, IF YOU FORGET LIKE I DID JUST SEAM RIP IT OUT AND REDO THE BUTTON EDGES). Fold straps in half. Stitch edges with serger also. This will give you a raw edge on all sides.
Connect the front of the skirt to the back of the skirt, overlapping the front raw edge over the back raw edge. Then attach the front traingles to the back, overlapping the front raw edge over the back raw edge. Measure it to make sure that it will fit the circumference of the chest (make sure to overlap the button area.)
You will have the top and the bottom and the straps. Attached the side seams of the skirt to the sides seams of the top. Wit the extra fabric make pleats. I did two in the front and one in the back. The front ones I made to face out and the back is folded into each other.

Attach the straps. Have daughter try on and make the measurements to complete the fit. Then attach. Either put buttons with button holes on top piece (if no buttons are there already) or put some snaps in place. I put two snaps on the top to keep closed. See final photo (top of post) as a final reference.

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