Posts Tagged ‘t-shirt’

Who doesn’t love jersey? I mean really. It’s soft, stretchy, easy to clean and easy to wear. What’s easier to wear than a t-shirt? A t-shirt dress!! No pants required!

So here’s the tutorial for this scoop/v-neck t-shirt dress. I used hot pink fabric (because I’m taking a vacay in Mexico soon) and this awesome orange/yellow/white fabric that I dyed myself. If you are going to use 2 different fabrics, make sure they are the same type so if there is any shrinkage, it will be uniform.

You’ll also need a fitted t-shirt to trace. I decided to use all drawings for the instructions because I stopped taking pictures of the steps about half way through. Enjoy!

1. Place your T-shirt face up on the pink fabric.
2. Trace around with a ½” seam allowance.
   
   1. For the arm hole, trace the front seams, not the back. They will be different
   2. For the neck, trace the back (NOT the Front)
3. Extend the line for the sides until your dress is the length you want it. I believe the overall length (from shoulder to bottom) was 40”.
4. Cut
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the back. Except this time trace the back armholes, and the back neck seam
6. For the neck detail
   1. Draw a rounded V-shape ( the depth will depend on how risque you want it) on the front pink piece
   2. Cut

   

   1. Place front pink piece on top of orange fabric, trace V line
   2. Mark out 4” from this line. Cut out shape

   

   1. For the back, do not cut V (unless you want). Trace neck shape on orange fabric
   2. Mark out 4”, cut
7. For each of the orange pieces. Stitch a guidance line on the bottom edge, 3/8” seam allowance
8. Using the guidance line, iron edge or orange fabric under, leaving a finished edge.
9. Now, sew the orange pieces to pink (right sides together) using a ½” seam allowance along the neck opening seam. Turn Right-sides out
10. Top stitch the inner seam on the orange piece (where you had the guidance stitch before)
11. Sew front and back of dress together at shoulders. I used an over-locking machine here, because I’m lazy and it makes my life easier.
12. To make the best sleeves:
    1. Open up the pieces you just sewed in step 10, so it lays flat.
    2. Trace the armhole line. Move aside the front and back pieces

    

    1. Decide how long you want your sleeve, I did 10” , draw in the bottom and the 2 side

    

    1. Cut 2 of these (opposites of each other). Be sure to mark which is the front (forward facing) and back of each sleeve
13. Attach the sleeve to the body of the dress.

1. Finish the sleeves by doing a 1″ hem
2. Now sew up the whole side of the dress, including under arms

1. Hem the bottom with a 1” hem.

All done!!!

Ok, let me start of by saying I failed at this project a couple times. I had seen people doing super cute jersey necklaces from t-shirts and I was super excited to make one. But when I tried it with unfinished edges, the fabric started to fall apart. It was going everywhere causing quite a mess in my sewing room. I figured it might be happening because I was using such cheap material. So I trashed my first attempt. For my second attempt, I used a much nice t-shirt (it was in the give away pile anyways). I thought that would help. But noooooo. Still falling apart. Still shedding everywhere. A mess.

But instead of throwing it away, I made the necklace my own way. I tell you this for a couple reasons. One, to admit that I am totally human and fail just as often as I succeed at new projects. And two, so that you don’t think it is weird that my photos don’t match up quite right. You’ll notice the number of strips of fabric gradually decrease. But just bear with me.

All you’ll need is a t-shirt. Mine was a fitted shirt with seams down either side. This adds an extra step, but I go over that in the tutorial. OK, here ya go:

1. Cut eight 2” strips width-wise across your t-shirt

1. Cut six 1.5” strips
2. Cut 1 side of the strips apart (so they won’t be a loop anymore)
   1. SPECIAL STEP!!  If you are using a fitted shirt (with seams down either side) you are going to need to cut the strips apart at both seams. Then, you’ll need to sew the strips back together on 1 end, making sure they are straight. The reason why you need to do this step is so that the strips will be straight pieces. If you don’t cut them apart at the original seams, they form Vs.
3. Sew the strips together with ¼” seam allowance. You want to sew down both long sides and one short side. You’ll end up with four 1.5” strips and three 1” strips
4. Turn all the strips right side out. If you’ve never done this, it’s fairly easy, just a little annoying. Here’s some pictures to walk you through

Using locking tweezers, clamp onto the seam (from the inside) at about 2".

Pull the tweezers back out. Be sure not to put too much pressure on the fabric or you'll rip it. As you pull the fabric, it'll start to turn right side out

Keep repeating these steps until your tube/strip is all the way right side out.

1. Take 2 of the 1.5” strips, twist together. Sew over both ends so they don’t unravel.

1. Cut a 6” segment off one of the 1.5” segments.
2. Fold the ends inside so there is a clean edge.
3. Put the ends from the twisted segments in to the 6” piece. Sew to secure
4. Now to make some rosettes using the remaining strips. For each strip:
   1. Fold one end over into a triangle (like when making a paper football)

   

   1. Put the rosette on the table with your finger on the triangle (raw edge facing down)
   2. Swirl the strip around creating a rosette. I found I get the best results when I twist the strip just a little as I go. I also have some sections where the seam of the strip is facing up, and some where it is facing the side. This gives the rosette a good variation height variation and makes it look more like a flower and less like a lollypop.

   

   1. Tuck the outer end under and in between the next two rows. Just make sure you can’t see it
   2. Secure with a pin.

   

   1. Sew the whole thing together on the back side. This step is a little tricky. I found it was easier to go from the side half way through, then continue across to the other side. Now matter how you do it, just keep going until you feel like it is secure.
5. On the 6” flat segment (not the twisted part), arrange your rosettes. Pin in place
6. Sew the rosettes down to the flat segment.

All done!!!

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