Upcycled T-Shirt Dress

Refashion outgrown tees into a Custom Dress

A few weeks ago I shared my difficulty in letting go of baby clothes. Well, it goes far beyond baby clothes. Today I’m going to share how I recently made an upcycled t-shirt dress using outgrown knit  shirts.

Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

I started with a stack of five shirts. Starting with the shirt that would be the top, I cut just below  my daughter’s natural waist.

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Using an existing skirt as my template, I cut four sections to make the skirt portion of the dress. To keep things simple, I kept the natural hem at the bottom of the dress.

 

Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

Working from the bottom hem, I pieced the skirt together with my serger. However, you don’t need a serger for this project –  a sewing machine would also work great.

Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

I had a baby t-shirt that I was able to cut enough strips of for a ruffle at the bottom of the skirt.

Upcycle T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls | Five Marigolds

If this were a proper tutorial, I probably would have held off on the photo shoot until this part was done.Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

But, it’s not a proper tutorial. I’m impatient, and so is my daughter! She couldn’t wait for the ruffle to be incorporated to add this to her closet. So, we kept it like this for a few weeks until we added that ruffle.

Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

But then, my daughter didn’t really feel like modeling anymore. Sheesh.

Such a good idea! Refashion upcycled T-shirts to create a custom knit dress for little girls. Upcycled t-shirt dress tutorial| Five Marigolds

So instead, I made this snazzy gif instead. You’ll just have to believe me that the ruffle is the perfect finishing touch. Maybe I’ll get around to posting it on Instagram on of these days…

So cute! Upcycle and refashion old t-shirts to create a custom dress for girls.

I love this project so much that I’m already thinking about taking on another upcycled t-shirt project.

Would you like to see more projects like this upcycled t-shirt dress? Let me know in the comments below!

I love this! Upcycle outgrown tees to create a custom dress for girls.

13 thoughts on “Upcycled T-Shirt Dress

  1. Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled says:

    LOVE this idea and I want to make one for my daughter. I just created a pillow from her favorite sundress that she wore all the time and still tried to squeeze into regardless of its size 3T label. I’ll start saving cute shirts she outgrows as she is a total dress-wearer. Visiting from Made By You Monday party.

  2. Brianna says:

    SO CUTE! I can’t wait to have a little girl! I’ve already saved up some old shirts that I want to turn into little cute dresses for my lo:D

  3. Stephanie, Somewhat Simple says:

    I absolutely LOVE this tutorial! So stinkin’ cute! Thanks for linking up to our Link Party Palooza – if you ever want to contribute to SomewhatSimple.com on a regular basis, we’d love to have you on our team! Shoot me an email! 🙂

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