Upcycled T-shirt Dress – Easy DIY Project

I had so much fun working with all my old t-shirts when I did the upcycled boy hats. This time around I thought I’d give girls a try. (Don’t worry, I’ll do a boy version of it later.) Let me introduce the Upcycled T-shirt Dress.

Now right off the bat, you might be thinking, “That’s nice but I don’t have any cute t-shirts or knits.” Don’t you fret or frown? I’ve got an extra little step for you.

After rounding up my t-shirts, I felt like some of them needed something extra. I bought these foam stamps from Hobby Lobby.

There were 12 little stamps and I think the pack was less than $2. I painted my fabric paint onto the stamp and pressed it onto the fabric. I did this until it looked like a funky knit fabric. (Don’t worry about each stamp being perfect. They won’t be, but it’ll still be really cute. It’ll look more vintage.)

painting with stamps

I did another one using a lip stamp from the same pack.

painting with lip stamp

To add a little variety, I took another fabric and drew “XOXO”s all over it with my fabric markers.

XOXO fabric

For the top of the dress you can cut off any shirt. Maybe you can find a shirt that has a stain on the bottom half that you would have gotten rid of. Or if you’re using a new one, save the bottom to make my Anti-layer Tube Top.

t shirt

Next, I aligned all my different strips and sewed them together. I wanted the seams to be on the outside, to give it that messy, patchy look. You need two of these pieces – one for the back and one for the front.

T shirt Parts

I trimmed the edges carefully. I wanted the dress to be a-line and I made sure the top of the skirt was about a 1/2 inch wider than the bottom of the shirt, so that after I sewed the from and back of the skirt together (using 1/4 inch seams) they would be the same width.

Upcycled T-shirt Dress Parts

I sewed the front and back together, but I didn’t want those seams on the outside. (Tip: I like to start at the bottom of the skirt to make sure the two parts line up.) I also made sure to use the bottom of a t-shirt for the last layer so I wouldn’t have to do my own hem. Clever and lazy, yes. Lastly, I sewed the skirt to the top.

Upcycled T-shirt Dress Parts 2

It was a fun project and I was happy to give my dull old knits some extra life.

dress back

I hope you’re enjoying the Refashionista event. There’s lots more fun to come. Thanks for dropping in!