Summer T-Shirt Dress

I am super excited because today is the first day in about a year that I crafted something that was non-wedding-related!!  (Ok, not ENTIRELY true, but about 90% true!) HOORAY!!! 

I saw this super cute dress online but told myself I'm not allowed to buy dresses anymore because I have too many... but, am I allowed to MAKE one?? ... YES!  It looked relatively simple, and turns out it is! 

The hardest part is finding cute knit material - knits are just stretchy fabric along the lines of t-shirts all the way up to sweater material!  Most big box stores have more quilting fabrics and a small selection (read: BORING) of knits. I found this adorable website, girlcharlee.com, that has ONLY knits and they're all cute and reasonably priced! Mine was only $5.25/yd which is CRAZY (I ordered 2 yards which ended up being way too much, but it's cute so I'll reuse it - this dress was about $7 in that case rather than $78 on Piperlime!!). 

First step - find a t-shirt you like to wear that fits reasonably, and trace it onto some tissue paper. Next, measure your hips and be sure your rear will be covered! Add the length and, if you have a hip curve, use that to make the rounded edges on the lower half of the dress. Fold the fabric in half and cut 2 pieces - front and back!

 


Next I cut out a little strip of fabric to sew along the neckline since knit fabric rolls - I serged it and placed it along the edge, ironed it flat, and then did a simple stitch across the top to keep it in place. I sewed both sides together, serged the bottom and hemmed it, and lastly I added the little cap sleeves. I just cut out some remaining fabric, sewed them together to make rings and ironed them in half. I placed the unfinished edges along the unfinished arm holes of the dress, and then serged that together for a nice clean finish!  From start to finish (disregarding the wash/dry time of the fabric), this project took me 3 hours, but I think it's because I was easing my way back into sewing slowly ;)  Most likely it should take between 2 and 3.  And I've finished just in time to have a cute outfit for happy hour with the hubby!

Here is a side-by-side comparison of mine and the original version! Not too shabby!! 


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