Monday, August 15, 2011

upcycle a big shirt into a dress/cover up

I found this size 4x woman's cotton shirt at a garage sale and thought it would make for a very cute cotton summer dress.  It's very casual and perfect to use as a swimming suit cover up also.  Here is the before:
 my computer won't let me rotate these pictures :(
I started by cutting off the sleeves leaving a little around the seams so I could hem the edge.
I turned it inside out, put it on, and pinned the armpit where it would fit me.  Then I took it off, pinned down the side at an angle to the bottom hem of the shirt, and cut off the excess.  
Next, I pinned and sewed down the raw edges all around.
That's it. It's cute and comfy.


The reversible American Vest

I have had this vintage polyester patriotic fabric for a while now and never knew what to do with it until I found out Osama Bin Ladin had been killed.  I decided to make a vest.  I didn't have a pattern and couldn't find a good tutorial online, but I used several different tutorials to make my own pattern. 
 I drew the vest out on a piece of newspaper by using a loose fitting tank top as a guide and cut the pieces out of both fabrics.
Now, you lay the pieces wrong sides together and sew them up the side seams.  You will end up with 2 pieces.  Do not sew up the shoulder seams just yet.
Lay the pieces out flat, wrong sides together and pin around them.  Sew all the way around the arm holes, neck and the long curved edge, leaving about a 5" space in the bottom so you can turn it inside out.  Leave the shoulder seams open.  Once turned inside out, pin and close the space in the bottom of the back of the vest.

Now to sew up the shoulder seams...  Turn the back shoulder seams in about 1/2 and inch and put the front shoulder pieces inside of these.  Hand sew these in place for an invisible seam or just machine stitch across like i did.


Now wear your reversible American vest with pride!