Child's Dress Refashion

Little c is crazy about anything Disney and I think Disneyland is her favorite place on earth!  When we were thrift store shopping we found this XL sized t-shirt she HAD to have - okay .... what on earth can we do with that?!  I was thinking of a plain tank dress, but then saw a pattern that gave me a little different idea.

Since I worked on this after I got back to Arizona and didn't have little c handy for fittings, I bought a pattern to use as a guideline.  I used New Look 6478 - just the front and the little cap sleeve for dress A.






1.  First cut the sleeves off the t-shirt and cut up the sides - don't cut apart at the shoulders, though.

2.  Fold the t-shirt in half, making sure there are no wrinkles on any of the layers.

3.  Lay the front dress pattern piece on top, putting the neck line on the t-shirt's neck top and the fold side along the shirt's fold.  Cut out - you now have the front and back of the dress, hooked together at the already sewn shoulders.

4.  Cut out the cap sleeve, putting the bottom against the hem of the sleeve.  I cut on the dotted lines so that my entire sleeve would already be hemmed.

5.  Next, pin and sew both side seams.

6.  Fold the sleeve in half and make a small snip at the half way point on the unhemmed side.

7.  Pin sleeve to armhole opening, matching the snip in the sleeve with the shoulder seam.  Since this is a little cap sleeve, it won't reach all the way around the armhole.  Sew in place.

8.  Finish the rest of the armhole by rolling under 1/4 inch twice, pinning in place, ...

9.  ... and sewing.  Continue up and over the sleeve top to give a nice topstitching look.

10.  Trim the side seams on the bottom, roll hem under twice about a quarter inch, and sew in place.

Happy Creating!  Deborah