Shirt Dress

I found this great tutorial and got excited to make up a dress for Zoe. She loves dresses, especially casual dresses that she can put on and take off herself.

So, Dan had this shirt that he had for a long time and he didn't wear anymore, and he offered it up to be made into a dress.


I bought this pattern because I didn't really trust my pattern making abilities and I didn't have a simple dress pattern that would work for this project.

I just read the tutorial and then did my own thing, not because it wasn't any good, but because I had a dress pattern to go by, so I basically just used the shirt as fabric and made the dress as the instructions were written. Although I made a couple of small changes because (1) I couldn't figure out the instructions for the ruffle around the neckline. And (2) I didn't want a gathered neckline, like the pattern was calling for; I wanted an elastic neckline. Thankfully the pattern worked fine to fold it over and draw some elastic through. I also messed with the sleeves a little bit, too, doing the same thing to them as I did to the neckline. The pattern calls for all sorts of complicated bias tape. It just doesn't need it. Elastic works again.

The end result?

Isn't that super cute? I love the final product!

And since I had a leftover sleeve, I whipped up this cute headband from this tutorial. I followed it almost exactly, except that I made it a little wider than her original measurements, like she suggested at the end.


I'll try to get a picture of her in it tomorrow.

ETA: I've posted the second shirt dress with matching headband (modeled, too!) on my craft blog: Craft Evangelist.