Improvised tshirt dress

[alias_sqbr]

No pattern, no rulers, no pressing, I just chucked it together with chalk and pins from a mediums size women's sleeveless shirt and one of Cam's old 4XLish tshirts. Ideas taken from McCall's M5893.



First I pinned the top to get a rough idea of where to do some darts(*):


I did the same on the back. I then marked a neater more symmetrical version of the darts with chalk and pins and sewed them.

I cut the sleeves off the bottom shirt then pinned the sides together and cut straight across the top to get rid of the neckhole as high as possible. I made a smooth curved sideseam to sew up the hole left by the arms being cut out. No picture, but it doesn't sit right anyway.

I experimented with the waistline (note the chalklines on the image above) so that neither top nor bottom stretched over my tummy (which tends to stick out) then pinned the two together and sewed. By sheer chance the top and bottom were exactly the same width which made life easier!

Here's a sideview:


Not a perfect piece of clothing by any measure, but serviceable for summer and a useful easy learning experience.

(*)You may note that I forgot to turn the shirt inside out. There is an unpicking step missing from these intstructions :)

Comments

[sanguinity]

I can't really tell from these shots what isn't sitting right about the armholes (or, even, if you're still unhappy about them), but I find that bust darts at the outer sides of my breasts (point toward my nipples, base of the dart toward my armpits) make armholes lie MUCH nicer.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh, not the armholes of the dress (though that sounds like a useful suggestion anyway), the place on the skirt (ie, my hips) where the armholes of the larger shirt used to be.

[triestine.livejournal.com]

I'd wear that! And I love the colour scheme, unassuming but not boring.

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

I really like the colour scheme too! Great job of transforming.

One thought is that instead of having the join line a bit below your waist, is to have it on your high waist. The idea is that the join line between the colours is the focus, and wherever it is "appears" to be the widest point of you. So if you have the join higher on your natural waist visually that will appear as the narrowest bit, and highlight a lovely feature :-)

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, that's what the people at t_shirt_surgery said too, and as you can see it worked out pretty well on my next dress.

[alias_sqbr]

Well you can't have it's MINE

I mean..thanks :)