Sunday, May 8, 2011

$1.80 Polka Dot Dress Refashion




I found this woman's shirt on clearance at Kohl's last summer for $1.80, yes, you read that right, $1.80. Even though there was no way I could ever wear this shirt, I am just to old and not skinny enough, I knew I could refashion it into a dress for my daughter and who can pass up a dress for $1.80, not me that is for sure.


This was a fairly straight forward refashion and could really be done with any t-shirt you have, First off, this shirt had a shelf bra sewn in which my daughter didn't need so I cut that out. Then I marked along the side seams where I wanted to take in the dress a little. After cutting along the line, I pinned the sides together and sewed up the seams.

Then I cut along off the scooped neck and straps creating a straight edge at the top. Fold over a 1/4 inch and sewn creating a finished edge.

After sewing the finished edge, I noticed that the fabric had stretched slightly and just didn't look right so I decided to shir the top edge of the dress a little bit to match the existing shirring below. You could put in as much shirring as you want, I only did 2 rows.



For the sleeves, I had wanted to reuse the spaghetti straps that were originally on the dress however I am not  a huge fan of little girls in spaghetti straps, it just looks to grown up to me and when pinned in place it just didn't grab me so I decided to make a little ruffle sleeve using the fabric from shelf bra I had cut out of the top. The ruffle sleeve was cut out in a half circle, making sure to cut it larger than I needed because the shirring along the sleeve will bunch up making it a smaller. I shirred 2 rows along the flat edge of the sleeve and then pinned these sleeves to the top of the dress with the curved edges facing out.


At this point the construction of the dress was done, you could leave it this way and the dress would be cute. I however couldn't leave well enough alone and decided I needed to spruce it up. Out came my favorite crafting tool, the Silhouette craft cutter and some heat set vinyl. You could really do anything to spruce it up, I thought flowers along the bottom would be cute, but in the end polka dots won out, I just love them.

I wasn't able to get my daughter to model it for me, she was asleep but I bet a million dollars she asks if she can wear it to school tomorrow. Fine by me sweetheart, fine by me.

Please feel free to link to my posts but please do not repost pictures of my children, thank you.

12 comments:

  1. GREAT refashion! I love the polka dots! It's always hard waiting for the model when you've made something so pretty isn't it!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit! and to the clothes upcycling projects too!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  2. WOW! Nice!

    I'll be featuring you on my blog later on today. :)

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  3. Great job. my little girl would love this polka dot sun dress! I really like the flutter sleeves that you made. Again great job!

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  4. So cute! I have a pile of knitwear just waiting to be refashioned!


    ~JamieS@ Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

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  5. This is wonderful!! What a great project, you did a terrific job and I'm inspired to give this a try myself!!

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  6. Thank you ladies. So sweet of you to take the time to stop by tell me what you think.

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  7. very cute love it Hi following from the hop look forward to more great posts
    http://everydayproductsandmore.blogspot.com/

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  8. Just wanted to let you know I featured your shirt to shirt refashion on my post today as part of my clothes upcycling challenge month! Thanks for linking it to my clothes upcycling linky!

    upcycling clothes challenge day 11
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success

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  9. That turned out so cute! Did you daughter freak out thinking no way am I going to wear that. That is before you transformed it.

    I am following you via the WW blog hop. Please follow me.

    http://itsabouttimemamaw.blogspot.com/

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  10. Brilliant! I simply love blogs like this, the kind that inspire! I am your newest follower! come visit!

    www.jonathanhowefineart.com

    Blessings,
    Sarah

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  11. Emily - You have done an incredible job on this refashion. I love the polka dots! Very cute! Thanks so much for linking to the Sunday Showcase Party - I greatly appreciate it. I have featured this. Hope you are having a great week ~ Stephanie Lynn
    http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2011/05/last-weeks-showcase-features-and.html

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  12. Wow!!! This is definitely amazing! I never thought fashion is that exciting and people must be super talented and gifted to make this wonderful refashion.

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