Today, Let’s have fun customizing some T-shirts into dresses. It is easy, You don’t need to cut the T-shirt, all you need to do is attach the other fabric to the T-shirt. See the pictures below with step by step tutorial on how I made these T-shirt dresses.
Materials needed
T-shirt ( I use school shirts pique, sold at Asda, Tesco and so on)
Fabrics: 1 metre of each design for each colour of T-shirt
Sewing machine
Scissors
Sewing thread to co-ordinate fabric
For the Red T-shirt dress
Step 1: Measure the width(horizontally- front and back) of the T-shirt where you desire to start the skirt ( this measurement is used to form the band that the pleated fabric for the skirt will be attached to.
Place a Tape measure on the T-shirt( where you want the skirt to start) and measure vertically to get the required length of the skirt.
Cut the fabric to the required length and then pleat the fabric to fit the band(width of the T-shirt). This acts as a bias binding on the pleated skirt and makes a neat attachment for the skirt and T-shirt.
Step 2: Cut fabric to match the width( horizontal) of the sleeve band with extra for overlapping\ joining the band (especially if you are binding using the quilt binding technique which is the best in this case) and Six times (6X) the height of the sleeves’ band (vertical).
Fold the fabric in half horizontally ( the wrong side facing the wrong side).
Step 3: Insert the sleeve into the sewing machine( the wrong side to sew on) as illustrated below.
Sew the edge of the bias band to the sleeve on the wrong side of the sleeves’ band.
Step 4: Join the ends of the fabric and sew. I prefer using the technique of binding a quilt to stitch this band, it encloses the seams properly.
Step 5: Finish sewing the wrong side of the bias to the of the sleeve.
Step 6: To enclose the band, fold the flower fabric over and sew with a top stitch on the right side.
Step 7: Measure the horizontal edge of the T-shirt(base\bottom hem) and then cut a fabric to fit the horizontal edge( this fabric is the band that the pleated skirt will be stitched to).
Cut fabric for the pleated skirt and then pleat the fabric to fit the band. Make the pleated skirt in two layers as shown below.
Step 8: Sew the band to the two layers of pleated flower fabric.
Step 9: Sew the layered skirt to the base hem of the T-shirt on the skirt band( this makes a neat attachment).
Step 10: Sew the fabric to the band \hem of the sleeves(See step 2 -step 6 of the red T-shirt dress for reference).
