I made this tutorial on turning a t shirt into a baby dress because I had this shirt that I loved the pattern, but, the way the shirt fit was less than stellar. I didn’t want to get rid of it, so I decided to repurpose it into a dress for my baby. It is a fairly easy project, and it doesn’t take very long either. It took me maybe an hour. I made a pattern for this with sizes 0-3 to 9-12. You might be able to get a toddler size in if you have a big enough shirt. This one is a size medium and it’s not cropped. You could also make your dress a bit shorter than mine if you need to. You will need a stretchy knit cotton shirt for this pattern.
Materials
Matching thread
One stretchy knit shirt (ideally with sleeves)
This pattern
Cutting out your dress
You will start with the skirt part. Measure from the bottom of your shirt to the recommended length for your dress (see the table in your pattern) Cut a straight line across your shirt and move to the side.
Next cut the back from the front of the shirt so you have enough space to cut out your bodice pattern. Cut out the front and the back. Also cut out the collar. Make sure you are cutting this part on the grain. It needs to be stretchy enough to go over your baby’s head.
Take your sleeve and cut it open at the sleeve. You will line up your sleeve pattern with the sleeve of your shirt. This way you don’t have to hem the sleeve of your dress.
Sewing your dress
Sew up the sides of the bodice, with right sides facing. Then sew up the shoulders of the bodice. Sew with a 5/8″ seam.
Take the sleeves and mark the middle of your sleeves. Pin the middle of the sleeve to the shoulder seam. Pin with right sides facing (like in the picture) Sew with 5/8″ seam.
The sleeve only covers part of the arm holes, so when you are done, fold in the armholes 5/8″ all the way around. Press your arm holes and pin them down. Then top stitch 1/4″ away from the edge. Repeat on the other side.
Sew the collar into a circle. Now fold your fabric with wrong sides touching in half. Press flat and pin. Mark the collar in four even sections with your pins. Take the neck hole of the bodice and mark four even sections on your neck hole. Place your collar over the neck hole and line up the pins, pin your collar to the neck hole as evenly as you can. Sew with a 5/8″ seam. Press your collar down the neck hole and top stitch 1/4″ away from the seam.
Now take your skirt and gather the top. Gather it so it is the same width as your bodice. (if you don’t know how to do this, refer to my tutorial) Once you are happy with the amount of gathering in your skirt, turn your bodice inside out and and place it in the skirt. Pin together and sew 5/8″ seam. Make sure the right sides of your fabric are touching.
Your baby dress is done!
