Friday, March 20, 2009

from dad's shirt to a little dress



I started this dress last fall and then while I was working on it, the little one it was intended for spilled paint on the unfinished sleeve. I had left the fabric paint out from a past project. I tried so hard to get it out and thought I was unsuccessful. So, I put the unfinished dress in the "get back to later" bin. I pulled it out yesterday and realized that the paint stain was gone (mostly). I guess. So, I picked up where I left off and got it finished. I asked to put it on her this morning and she said, "no dress." I think she is still in a sour mood from being sick, so maybe next week when it's a bit warmer I will get a photo of her in it. It's made from her dad's old high school Polo shirt. Great color for a girl and I don't know if I would have liked her dad in it in the 90's, but you never know. I think it will look great on her with a pair of white leggings!

*UPDATE* For the dress I used a Simplicity Pattern 5695 and just laid it over the shirt to cut out the pieces. Dana over at MADE wrote a tutorial to make a similar dress here. Happy sewing!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

That dress is really cute. What a great idea.

Jenni said...

So Cute!! Way to reuse.

Melissa {polkadot chair} said...

That is sooo cute.. what a great idea... I think jeff's got a few of those old polo shirts lying around too.

dana said...

Oh my! I LOVE this!! It is so cute. And I'm totally stealing the idea :). Great refashion!

koala brains said...

Wow, you are so creative! I love this. I still have my daughter's peasant pattern from last year and am going to use it again but with some adjustments since she has grown. :) I've been trying to think of ways to embellish the design and this is a fabulous idea. Like Dana, I'm definitely going to do this. THANKS!

Anonymous said...

I'd love to post about your too cute creation in an upcycling column I have on my site, if you're up for it just shoot me an email at kidsstuffworld @ gmail dot com

Thanks

Barbara said...

So cute, you get the best ideas!

Katie @ goodLife {eats} said...

saw this on ModEco Kids blog. Such an awesome idea! THanks for sharing!

babalisme said...

How did you transform it? My husband has a collection of shirts and polos in 80's and 90's color scheme. I don't want to dish them out in the garbage yet now that I have a daughter.

Anne said...

Wowza!!!! I wish I had seen this before we donated all my husband's old dress shirts.

I posted a link to your project on Craft Gossip Sewing Blog:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/cool-idea-litt…rom-dads-shirtcool-idea-little-girls-dress-from-dads-shirt/2009/03/27/
--Anne

Bobbi said...

Where did you find the pattern?

mamaTAVE said...

I finally finished a version of this for my daughter--thanks for the inspiration! I used one of my old blouses this time, keeping the neck "as is"; looking forward to trying one of her dad's shirts with your style of sleeves and scoop neck.

Also, apparently your sister's mother-in-law is my sister's boss (...or something like that..) in San Diego. Small world!

Jen said...

I'd love to know what pattern you used too.

Anonymous said...

I just found your site & I'm in love with the "dad's shirt- dress"! Do you have a tutorial on how to make this or are you able to help a 'new to sewing' person out? We just found out that we're having a girl & my nesting urges are crafting :) With my boys I did a womens build project with HFH. This time I get to make something cute.

Emily @SweetlyScrapped said...

Just precious! Love it!

Melissa said...

Do you have a pattern you went by to create this dress? I love it and would love to do this w/ some of my dad's & father-in-law's shirts.

Mimi said...

Love it! Pinned it, too! I saw it pinned from another site, but wanted to pin it from your cool site :)

Unknown said...

Hello,
today I found Your blog and I saw the post with the cozy dress for girls.
I have not a little daughter or a
granddaughter and so i sewed a shirt
for me from a men's shirt.
You can see it at my blog named:
hansundgrete-shop.blogspot.com.
There it is.
Greetings from Germany
Olga