Kids Makes
Dress Up with downtown style
For a funky change of style, Gabrielle Sterbenz takes three T-shirts in a crazy mix of colour and pattern and puts them together to make this cool dress. Easy to make and amazingly comfortable to wear - the dress can be scrunched up and belted or it can hang straight. Either way, you’ll feel ‘dressed up.”
Materials
- 3 T-shirts which are extra long, comfortable fit, medium weight
- We’ve used one in avocado and two in pink strawberry
- Ruler
- Masking tape 2.54 cm (1”) wide
- Marking pencil
- Straight pins
- Scissors
- Matching thread
Steps to sew
1. Lay one of the pink T-shirts on a hard work surface, front side facing up and bottom edges aligned.
Stretch and press a length of masking tape across the bodice just under the neckband.
Stretch and press two parallel lengths of tape vertically at the ends of the horizontal piece. Cut along the outside edge of the tape through both layers of fabric to make two skirt panels. Repeat on the second pink T-shirt.
2. Trim off the seam allowance at each side of both sets of skirts panels.
3. To make the skirt front, layer two of the panels together right sides facing and raw edges even. Pin one side along the edge. Repeat to pin the second set of skirt panels.
4. Machine-stitch one set of panels together 13 mm (1/2”) from the raw edge. Repeat to sew the second set of panels together.
5. To make the skirt, lay the two sets of panels together, right sides together and raw edges even. Pin the sections to each other at the sides.
6. Sew the sections together at 13 mm (1/2”) from the edges.
7. On the green T-shirt mark the centre of the front and the back at the hemmed edge using a pencil. Slip the shirt over the skirt, right sides together and pin the sections together along the T-shirt hem, matching the seams and the centre marks.
HANDY HINT: try on the dress while it is pinned to customize the fit to your body shape. Many T-shirts are big and boxy and you may wish to narrow the shirt bodice at the sides before attaching to the skirt section for a slimmer fit!
8. Slip the dress on the arm of the sewing machine with the bodice section facing up. Sew the hem of the T-shirt through the two layers, removing pins as you work.
Variations:
For fun, cut the hem at an angle so that the skirt hangs lower
at one side than the other!
You’re simply never too old to play dress, so kick up your heels!
Further Information
Photos and text appear, with permission from T-Shirt Style 2007 Creative Homeowner Home Arts (www.creativehomeowner.com). T-Shirt Style – Super-Easy Looks in No Time by Gabrielle Sterbenz (ISBN 9781580113434) banishes boring T-shirts from the wardrobe with the help of scissors, a sewing machine and the great ideas in this fun book. Presented in a handy stand-up format it includes a collection of 31 styles ranging from casual daytime styles to funky evening numbers in a variety of tops, dresses and skirts. Most of the designs are aimed at the young (or young at heart) and all are quick and easy to sew. Techniques include ruching, screen-printing, photo-transfer and embellishing with rhinestones, ribbon, fabric flowers and appliqué. Full instructions are provided along with close-up photos, templates and graphic images so only basic sewing equipment and a couple of plain T-shirts are required to start creating one-off originals. This title would make an ideal gift for a fashion-conscious teenager with an interest in design and is distributed by the Roundhouse Group and costs £11.99 in paperback. For further details or to source a local stockist tel: 01865 361122.
