The shirty dress

Take a men's shirt. Turn it into something else. That is the challenge I happened across while browsing sewing blogs one day. Once I read all the details I knew I wanted to participate. So I sketched out a couple design ideas, then went to the thrift store to get my shirt. I came home with 5, yes 5, not the one or two I had planned. Well, since I wound up with 5 shirts, I was going to refashion 5 shirts, starting with this 2XL grey/silver one.

 

This shirt was made out of the most soft gorgeous cotton. The wrong side of the fabric had the same design as the right side, just with opposite colors. I decided it would be perfect as a dress for my sister. Now, I could have just used the shirt as fabric for this dress, but I really wanted to retain some of the "shirty" elements in the dress.

I used a pattern, McCall's M7035, as my bodice base carefully laying out the pieces to highlight the elements of the shirt that I wanted to keep, such as the button placket. From the body of the shirt I managed to get both bodice pieces and the sleeves cut out. I cut off the bottom of the shirt to save for part of the skirt. The rest of the skirt I made from the sleeves.

First I removed the cuffs, as I had other plans for them, then I cut the sleeves in half.

I sewed the sleeve tops and bottoms together at the sides, making one big loop. This would be the skirt. I really liked how it mimicked the shape of the original shirt hem. Since I loved the wrong side of the fabric as much as the right, and wanted both to be seen in this dress, I alternated which side was up in the skirt panels.

The skirt wound up being a bit short at the sides, so I used the back yoke pieces to lengthen it.

Once that was done, and the bodice attached to the skirt, the dress was ready to wear!

It turned out very cute, and my sister loved it!

The layered skirt and faux belt across the front (made from the collar stand) are some of her favorite details.

I personally love the color blocking and the side front buttons.

The original shirt cuffs on the sleeves definitely add to the dress, too. 

I'm not sure Daffodil agrees though, or maybe she just isn't a fan of having her hunting interrupted. 

At the beginning of this post I mentioned a challenge this dress was part of. The blog Makery is hosting The Refashioners 2015. The theme is Get Shirty! The challenge runs through September 27th, and anyone can take part, so grab a shirt and Get Shirty with the rest of us!

Now, I have a few more shirts to get back to, along with some other projects I had to put off in order to get the Zelda costumes done. So check back soon to see what those are and hear what my specific sewing goal for the month is (it extends past refashioning 5 shirts). Until then, back to sewing and goats I go!