Project: Play Dresses for Emily

Emily started growing out of many of the dresses she’s been wearing for the last year.  I took some old shirts of mine and turned them into play dresses that should last for another year.  The first dress took about two days to figure out.  The second one Emily I made together in thirty minutes.  My favorite part about using an old shirt is zero hemming!

First I did a box pleat to bring the neckline to an appropriate size.  I used a stretch stitch and sewed right over the top of the pleat twice to anchor it in place.

Next I laid the dress inside out and laid a boy’s t-shirt on it, matching up the neckline and the top of the sleeves.  I chose the boy’s shirt for the roomier sleeves.  I cut into the sleeves and down the side of the dress about an half inch away from the edge of the t-shirt for the seam allowance. Using a stretch stitch I sewed down the sleeves, careful to match up the ends, and then down the side of the dress.

For a final touch I used the bottom of another shirt to add pockets to the dress.  I used the existing hem at the top of the pocket. I folded about a 1/4″ around the other three sides, ironed, and stitched them on.

Emily put the dress through the test of running, spinning, jumping, somersaulting, and filling up the pockets before giving it the final approval.