Cute Dress from Man's Shirt

Turn a man's shirt into a cute dress with this refashion sewing tutorial from Stefi Luca. The red contrast details create a beautiful finished product in this sewing craft. This adorable dress is great for the summertime and is fun to wear to a 4th of July BBQ or a day out shopping with friends. It's lightweight and easy to make and a great way to repurpose an old tee into something useful and wearable.

Men's Shirt to Dress

Materials:

A man's shirt
Fabric remnants
Bias tape

Instructions:

Gather materials.
I cut out the sleeves and the collar. I suppose the sleeves are the first to get worn out in a shirt, at least this was in my case. So I made sure they were the first I cut out :)
I cut the shirt in two...
...adjusted the armhole.....
...removed the pocket, added bias tape along the armholes and the neckline and also some cute little ruffles. Don't forget the darts to fit your bust!
I sewed the folders at the back using a decorative stitch to make it look more fun. The job is done for the upper part of the dress.
Let's move now to the bottom part of the dress to which I added ruffles.
Last thing: a strip of fabric to go between the two cut parts. It has a double role: to add length to the dress and also some extra color.
Voila! Here is the dress! I like its playful look and how it matches the funky bag. I felt like a teenager when I put it on :) On top of this, it passed Dan's length test, meaning it's not too short.
When I get bored wearing it, I can remove the bottom part and have a feminine shirt.The only thing left to do is wait for the warm weather to wear it :)

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Janquito

Jun 22, 2013

Very cool! A great way to weed out hubby's shirts instead of going shopping. =)

fancywriter 337204 5

Jun 14, 2013

Cute, sassy. Can hardly tell it's from a man's shirt once done. I'd like to see sleeves on it. like cap sleeves.

jenag1996 9579905

Jun 06, 2013

UGH..

griestj 8179594

Apr 13, 2013

Very Clever...and soooo cute

ashleigh137137137 0251427

Jan 20, 2013

I love it!!

ashleigh137137137 0251427

Jan 20, 2013

I love it!!

snappyscissors 861 8882

Jan 16, 2013

Very cute idea definitely going to try

swiftjd 4283404

Nov 02, 2012

I love the shirt dress. I can't wait to see what I come up with. This is going to be fun & comfortable.

dianewingatesefton 07022011

Jun 16, 2012

I LIKE IT. I HHAVE MODIFIED A MAN'S SHIRT FOR ME DOING A FEW OF YOUR MAKE-OVERS BUT ALSO DOING OTHER THINGS. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR IDEAS.

notdeadredhead

May 22, 2012

So glad I'm not the only one with a husband whose length test I've had to get used to. XD I was never too bad, but it's amazing the difference between a female and male opinion of short. lol

angiemendonsa 1237 801

Mar 05, 2012

Very good idea.Must try it out.

michellegrimwood 1 036004

Mar 20, 2011

How ingenious you clever thing. Looks great!! Michelle G

Denomyth

Mar 08, 2011

I love this, I'm thinking a visit to the thrift shop is in my future. I will try to find two similar shirts and use the second shirt to make the skirt portion of a dress. Can't wait to do this.

MamaBird

Mar 08, 2011

Very cute! The possibilities are endless. Whether your pleasure is hand or machine sewing you could do great things based on this idea. Thanks!

Char55

Mar 08, 2011

The person who posted the question was looking for "HAND-SEWN", NOT MACHINE SEWN CLOTHING. This suggested pattern seems to use a machine to sew the project. I did, however, find a book that contains HAND-SEWN CLOTHING from the 1700s to 1800s on this link: http://annekata.blogspot.com/2010/09/hand-sewing-in-18th-century-clothing.html

Freckle Dots

Aug 12, 2010

This is just adorable! I can definitely see purchasing some inexpensive men's shirts second-hand for this project. I love the red accents. Very cute and inventive.

SilEBird

Aug 04, 2010

OMGosh!! I made a VERY cute dress for my daughter with this idea. A neighbor gave me a mens blue/black/white plaid shirt. I used solid black piece of T-shirt for the middle, bottom ruffle, and black bias tape. I used the bias tape to "frame" the upper button area, also. I replaced the upper buttons with daisy ones, removed the bottom buttons & just stitched that area closed. I added 4 belt loops along the top of the middle and created a belt from white scrap material. In the center of the belt I added 3 different sized daisy buttons. I'm not a professional by absolutely NO means. I'm VERY pleased with the results!! Now my other daughter wants one too. I wish I could post of picture of it. For those who are hesitant to try, trust me, I'm an "infant" at sewing.. just try..

ahswales

Jun 29, 2010

This is great! Looking forward to trying it. Thanks for posting!

SewingForFamily

Jun 29, 2010

I love this idea, it's so cute, but I'm a bit bigger, so not sure how it would look on me, but I think it's adorable and would love to give it a try sometime. I'm sure I could do something similar with a smaller shirt for my daughter.

red123

Jun 24, 2010

quite like the idea of not throwing things away pic's very helpfull to me as i am not very good with diagrams & people just telling me how to do it. found this very helpful thanks

marthacarol

Jun 08, 2010

Really cute in photos; I want to try. These directions are a bit sketchy though...