Sew: Baby dress from women's shirt

January 24, 2022 Post a Comment

Nosotros all have them – clothes we never wear because they just don't fit correct, or are the incorrect style, or were a bad purchase to begin with. The shirt I started with for this projection never got much wear time because although I love the vivid yellow and the stripes, the fabric was merely a niggling too thin and clingy to sufficiently disguise the fact that I've had five children. So it languished at the bottom of my closet until a string of warm-weather days made me decide to turn it into a wearing apparel for my baby girl. Information technology was actually unproblematic, and you can use the same process to turn any adult sized knit (stretchy) shirt into an ambrosial refashioned infant/toddler daughter apparel. Here's how I did it:

Commencement, lay that shirt down on the tabular array, smoothing it out so the bottom of the front and dorsum friction match upwardly. So grab a dress that currently fits your intended recipient and lay it over the shirt. We just desire to apply this dress to get an idea of the correct size to cut our new apparel, but knit is very forgiving and then this doesn't demand to exist perfect.

In fact, the clothes I used for sizing had a piddling different shape than I wanted – it flared out at the bottom where I wanted a adequately straight silhouette, so you'll run into that I simply used it as a bones guide instead of cutting around it exactly. I cut a straight line up the side of the apparel, so flared out slightly as I got to the sleeve portion of my light-green dress, then rounded above the shoulder and cut a modest dip out at the neck (keep the neck dip small for now – you can brand it bigger later).

Once I got i side cut, I flipped it over and used it every bit a pattern to cut the other side. This is the basic shape I ended up with:

Note: if you have buttons down the front of your shirt you'll desire to cut at least one-half an inch above a push button. I cut this neck a little closer to the button than I should have.

Some other note: If the shirt you lot are using does not have buttons, you'll probably desire to put some sort of button closure on your back piece, something that will expect like the picture below. If you lot need help doing this, check out Jess'south fantastic tutorial hither at Craftiness is Not Optional. Do that first, before proceeding to the next stride hither.

We have the apparel piece cut out, just we will likewise need some strips of stretchy fabric to use as ribbing around the arm holes and neck hole. Most probable you lot will have plenty fabric left over from your shirt to cut strips out of the aforementioned material so it will match exactly. Yet, I wanted white ribbing, so I cutting my strips from some leftover white t-shirt textile. When y'all cutting strips, make certain you are cut with the stretch (so y'all can hold both ends and stretch your strip). You lot'll desire one strip for the side by side that's virtually 1 1/2 inches wide, and two strips for the armholes that are each 1 inch wide. Twelve inches long was enough for my dress, only if y'all have more textile, y'all might also cutting the neckhole strip even longer, just to exist sure.

Depending on your cloth your strips may start curling into themselves, similar mine did (below). Don't worry about information technology – we need to fold them in one-half longways and printing, and once you do they'll lay prissy and apartment.

Side by side, place your two dress pieces right sides together and sew upward both shoulder seams (shown pinned below). Press the seams open up.

We'll start past using our strips (I'thou going to call it ribbing from now on) to bind the armholes. Now, since we cut this wearing apparel fairly straight, y'all can't tell at this indicate where the arm holes terminate and the side seams volition begin. Don't worry nigh it. Only start by laying your dress out flat (opened up at the shoulder seams with the right side upward) and pin the middle of one of your narrow pieces of ribbing to to the wearing apparel at the shoulder seam.

Now, we want to grab near half an inch of ribbing to the right of your pin and stretch information technology out to about a total inch length before pinning it downward to the apparel. Do the same to the left of your pin. When you allow become of the ribbing you lot'll see that the clothes bunches up a fleck. It should look similar the picture show below. This will give the acme of the armhole a tiny assemble and make the clothes look more than similar it has sleeves.

Continue pinning the ribbing down on each side of your middle pin, not stretching it afterwards that first inch. Run up it on using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. This picture shows my serger – in order to get that small of a seam allowance I take the fabric lined up with the blade and just the tiniest bit is getting cut off. If you are using a sewing machine instead of a serger (merely fine!) line up the border of your fabric with the edge of your presser foot to keep a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Sew that ribbing on. When you get near the shoulder seam, where nosotros stretched the ribbing earlier pinning, your material will exist all bunched up, similar the picture below.

Pull on your fabric as you sew in order to shine out the bunches. Recall, the ribbing will compress back up later on we sew this seam, helping to give a tiny gather to the tiptop of the sleeve area.

In one case yous've sewn your armhole ribbing on both sides and pressed the seam allowance in toward the wearing apparel, your dress will look like this.

Now is a good time to endeavour the dress on the intended recipient and mark two things: one) Where yous'd like the side seams to first under the artillery (just pin on either the front or back, non through them both), and ii) How much larger you'd similar the neck hole to be. If your baby girl runs from you laughing maniacally every bit you are trying to marker these 2 things, know yous are in good visitor 🙂 Either practice your all-time, or just employ that original well-fitting dress as a guide here.

Trim away at the neckline if you need to brand it bigger. I originally planned to take the buttons go down the back of this apparel, so I lowered the neckline on the apparently portion of the dress. I changed my heed afterwards it, and information technology turns out it likes fine either way. So lower the neckline in the forepart, or the back, or both, or not at all if you've already cutting a large enough hole. Totally helpful, right?

Become your wider piece of ribbing and pin it around the neckline (think to pin the ribbing to the right side of the apparel), starting in the middle of the front. This time you will stretch the ribbing every single time you pin information technology down. This means the dress slice will be bunched upward all the way around the neckline – this volition assist the ribbing to lay flat once it's sewn and pressed. When y'all go to the buttons, curve your ribbing so the folded edge meets the corner of the dress above the button or buttonhole, as shown below.

Sew that ribbing on, remembering to stretch it the entire time as you lot sew so your dress cloth isn't bunched up under information technology. Here'due south another film of it bunched up:

$sewing binding that\'s pinned to dress, with fabric under binding bunched$

And another picture of it smoothed out as I stretch the fabric:

And here's a shot of how it should look when it meets up with the buttons or buttonholes.

At this bespeak y'all should printing that seam down toward the dress, and you'll have something that is really starting to wait like a dress:

Except around your push button placket, where you'll have a bit of a mess:

Trim off that excess ribbing (cutting straight down), and use a few hand stitches to secure information technology downward to the within of the button placket.

Almost washed! Simply the side seams now. Turn your dress within out and detect the pin that marked where you want your side seam to start below the armholes. Pin in beyond the armhole ribbing, so downwardly the side.

Sew both side seams and cut off any extra ribbing below the armholes. Your clothes should expect like this.

Now you just need to turn it right side out, press open up the side seams, prune off any stray threads, and expect for your infant girl to wake upwardly from her nap and then she tin effort it on.