My sewing-fun as of late has been upcycling some barely worn clothes of ours into E’s new favorite dresses!

I attached a never-worn silky jersey shirt of mine (Old Navy, clearance rack, $6) to a basic long-sleeved black tee of hers.

Took all of 12 minutes to do this… seriously… you should make a few…

She wore it several times before I got around to adding the embellishment (to hide a little un-intended pleat in the top).  I cut circles of the purple fabric and stacked them up- about 5 layers from large to small, then hand-stitched them in the center to the front.

Awww… my poor sick girl.  She’s been under the weather all week, we’re waiting for a test to come back to see if she’s got mono…

Not sure who she’s kissing at preschool!!  hee hee.

Here’s another one, the bottom is an old dress of mine, the long-sleeve shirt came as-is- it has a cute corduroy print, some lace, and a couple lttle bows.

Just attached it to my old dress and voila!  This one took me about 11 minutes… At the rate i’m going, I should be able to crank one out while the car warms up in the morning!  ha!

No really though, here’s the quick rundown:

1. Cut your shirt and skirt to desired length- (I leave about 3″ of shirt below the armpit), the skirts I’ve been keeping pretty long since that’s how she likes them.

2. Gather your skirt by sewing a couple of long straight stitches across 1/2″ from the raw edge.  Gather it up evenly and turn it inside out.

3. Insert your shirt piece inside the skirt piece, lining up the raw edges. and side seams (right sides will be touching).  Adjust the skirt and the gathers to fit the shirt piece.  Pin in place.

4. Sew (i used a straight stitch) together using a 5/8″ seam (i also then zigzaged over that for no reason.. er.. just good measure I guess?). Turn your dress right side out.

** For a better idea of this easy technique (and photos), you could go to my Vintage Pillowcase Tank Dress tutorial to get the gist.  Same idea, (only I did not use elastic thread here).

Since Ellery boycotted the last dresses I made her because “they’re bumpy” a.k.a. made from woven cotton, I’m sticking to these strechy ones for a while.  They’re comfy, easy to make, almost free, and she’s wearing them all the time.

I plan on raiding my husbands drawers next.  I know there are some goods just waiting to be hacked up!

-Erin

p.s. We are still waiting to meet Caroline’s baby… she’s 6 days late and starting to get a little crank-xious (yep. new word for ya!).

Send her your good vibes!

….And For some more UPcycled inspiration, see these:

Vintage Thift Store Frock into Dress

Dad’s Sweater into Girl’s Cardigan

Cashmere Sweater into Ear Warmer

Vintage Sheet into Spring Top