Toddler Dress out of a T-shirt

The last time I posted on this blog was when I was pregnant! What sweet memories. The last three years have been full of sewing projects, but not many were photographed. I've discovered a new favorite genre of sewing: baby and toddler clothes!

Here is a tutorial for making a toddler dress out of a t-shirt. I copied a dress that I already had in 4T, and I used a size L women's long sleeve t-shirt. The best part about this dress is that you don't have to do any hemming if you line up the neckline, sleeve hem, and skirt hem with the corresponding parts of the shirt!

1. Cut off the shirt sleeves. Cut the shirt up the sides to separate the front and back. Lay the dress on the shirt front to determine the cutting line for the dress bodice front, placing the neck of the dress on the neck of the shirt.

Bodice front

2. Cut leaving a half inch seam allowance. Fold in the dress sleeves to guesstimate the armhole shape.

3. Use the remaining fabric from the shirt front to make the skirt front. Cut off the extra fabric into a rectangular shape.

Bodice front and skirt front

Bottom of shirt to be made into skirt front

4. Gather the top of the skirt front and evenly fit to the bodice top. Sew right sides together to complete the dress front.

Skirt front gathered to match bodice

Dress front

5. Cut out the dress back, using the shirt back for bodice and skirt. Repeat steps 1-4. Remember to line up the neck. It's easier if you fold the pieces in half and make a small cuts for guidance. Remember seam allowance. Check the back pieces with the front pieces to make sure that the bodice/skirt seam will match up.

Bodice back lined up

Bodice back (folded)

Dress front and back

6. Sleeves:

Line up dress sleeve and shirt sleeve so that hems match

Cut shirt sleeve leaving seam allowance

Cut slit to mark seam allowance for sleeve top

I accounted for the gather in the dress sleeve

Basic sleeve shape

No serger needed - just sew 1/4 inch away from stitch line and cut close to second stitch line.

Attach sleeve to armhole and sew (I added a little pleat at the top instead of gathering)

I wish I had a better picture of the finished product, but...this is dress is being modeled by a live toddler who would rather play with my machine than be photographed.