Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's a shirt, it's a dress, it's a skirt!

Today, I'm linking to the fun at Blue Cricket Designs
Show and Tell Green

And Sew Cute Tuesdays @ Creative Itch
Photobucket



Lest y’all think I have some kind of magical sewing ability, I give you this story of a refashion that did not go exactly as planned. This is also a story of perseverance stubbornness, because when my initial idea failed, I refused to stop sewing until I’d turned my train wreck into something I could wear. So, here you have the story of a shirt,

that became a dress,

that became a skirt.


It all started with this very large, big and tall men’s dress shirt.


First, I cut off the sleeves and removed the pocket.


Next, I turned the shirt inside out and pinned both sides from the arm pits to the hem so that the shirt fit comfortably around my hips, but was a bit blousy in the waist and bust.

I sewed up the sides and tried the shirt/dress on. I experimented with belting the waist and like the direction things were heading.

My husband didn’t like the shirttail hem, so I decided to give the dress an even hem all the way around.


The dress looks pretty shapeless on the hanger, but I tried it on and belted it. It looked so cute! Very vintage waitress-y. But short. Very short. I raised my hands above my head, and hello! OK, so this dress idea was not going to work.

Side note, if you have a pre-teen daughter this would probably make a very cute dress for her!

Plan B. I cut a straight line from arm pit to arm pit. I folded the fabric over twice, pinned, and sewed to create a deep hem/casing for elastic.

I cut a small slit on inside of the hem and used a safety pin to thread ¾ inch elastic through.


That gave me this simple skirt. Comfy, but nothing special.


However, I discovered I could easily fake the look of a paper bag skirt. I pulled on the skirt, folded the elastic band over towards the inside of the skirt. Then I sort of poofed the fabric and tied it with a sash.



Ta-da an instant paper bag skirt.

When to comes to sewing, all you can do it keep trying until you hit on something you like!

Even though it may take a try, or two, or three!

<3
Hattie




6 comments:

the thrifty ba said...

oh-this would be so cute this summer! back to the thrift store i go!

Tracy said...

You have got to be running out of closet space with all the cute clothes you've been making! This looks so summery and fun and I love it paired with that fitted black top.

Lynette @ My Craft Discovery said...

Way cute! Thanks for paying my blog a visit!

Emily @ Finding My Aloha said...

cuuuuuuuute! reminds me a bit of this shirt dress at modcloth http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Shuffleboard+Dress?utm_medium=CJaffiliate&utm_campaign=CJ&utm_source=CJ

Megan said...

Cutest skirt EVER. I'm going to try this, for sure.

Jane @ The Borrowed Abode said...

I love this idea! I just started making new clothes from old, and it seems the possibilities are endless!