KCW Winter 2015: Easy Tee to Dress Upcycle

Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

Kids Clothes Week rages on and I’m back at it with a very simple project this time. This one transforms a t-shirt from the Target clearance rack into a fun dress by pairing it with a bright Amy Butler fabric.

I love stripes. For real. I just can’t resist striped attire for children (or myself). And stripes paired with a big, bold floral print become both sporty and feminine.

This project started as a long-sleeved t-shirt that I scored for $3.50 from Target (had to buy two colors at that price!). I sized up and purchased a size 4T because it seems like the Circo brand always shrinks a fair amount after the first washing.

Circo Shirts

I hacked off a good 10+ inches from the bottom of the t-shirt, and about 5 inches from the sleeve length. I then made a skirt using two width-of-fabric rectangles of a bold Amy Butler print. I used this same fabric when I made Daisy some summery skirts when she was about 9 months old. It’s kind of a crazy print but the colors are so great.

Circo Tee Upcycle by fromwholecloth.com

I gathered the extra wide skirt portion to make it the same size as the bottom of the shortened t-shirt, and then attached it to the bottom of the shirt using a zig-zag stitch to allow for as much stretch as possible (since the knit t-shirt fabric is stretchy, but the woven skirt fabric is not). Then I hemmed the skirt.

Sleeve Detail on Circo Tee to Dress for KCW by fromwholecloth.com

The size 4T sleeves were way too long for my daughter. I could have just shortened and hemmed them, but I decided to add a ruffle to the shortened sleeve for a little girly flair. I used the hacked off bottom of the t-shirt to make a ruffled cuff. No wasted fabric on this project!
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Upcycled Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

 

Upcycled Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

This bright dress seems like the perfect remedy for all the snow and cold weather we’ve been experiencing lately.

Upcycled Circo Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

As a side note, there was another Kids Clothes Week project that I was working on last night. I had scored a pair of purple velveteen jeans from Goodwill about a year ago with hopes of transforming them into a soft pair of pants for Daisy. But, it just didn’t happen. I was most of the way done with the sewing when I realized I really didn’t like how they looked. The envisioned pants were better in my head than they were in person. I could tell they would not be a hit with Daisy, either.  Pants are a hard sell for her to begin with – she’s a leggings girl. And so, I just walked away from the project.

There’s a certain luxury associated with working with upcycled materials. Because the cost of entry is generally pretty low, you can feel free to take risks you might not want to take with your “good” fabric, or, as in my case, to abandon a project that doesn’t quite satisfy your creative intentions.

The pants cost me about 75 cents at Goodwill. Much, much less than the cost of the same amount of a new, quality fabric. The time spent sewing was good practice – I view it as an investment in strengthening my sewing skills. Rather than feeling guilty about “wasting” good fabric on a pair of pants that would never be worn, I could walk away from the nearly finished but unremarkable pants without a second thought.

I have at least one more project to share this week. Until next time…

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