Recycle a men’s dress shirt into kids clothes – peasant dress

Recycle a men’s dress shirt into kids clothes – peasant dress. As a preschooler my daughter loves dresses and she is growing super fast. To save money I turned my husbands dress shirts into dresses for her. It saves me money on fabric and most of the work is done for me. I don’t mind that dress looks handmade and is a little rustic in the stitching, that is my style. If you are a more tailored person, take your time with the stitches and create proper seams. I wing most things when I sew and us contrasting thread colors so that my freestyle sewing is apparent.  If you don’t like the look use thread that coordinates and it will hide a multitude of errors.  The appliques are optional and a great way to use up your scraps.  If you are not comfortable drawing your own basic shapes find some on the internet to use as a pattern.  Again that is an area where I wing it. My daughter loves  clothes that are made by mommy and that the material came from daddy. 

 Peasant Dress with Applique’

Mens dress shirt
Seam ripper
Iron
Scissors
Ruler and disappearing ink pen
Sewing machine and coordinating thread
Straight pins
Fusible webbing
Elastic cording
Embroidery Floss
Misc fabric
Pressing cloth
Serger (optional)

Instructions for Peasant Dress with Applique’:

Removed the shirt pocket with seam ripper. Keep the front buttons in-tact.
Use another dress as a pattern and trim arround the dress.
You will cut the front and back of the dress at the same time; they are the same pattern piece.  Cut out the Dress front and back. Leave the length of the dress un-cut until the end, when you can try it on for size.
With right sides of the fabric together and sew with a 1/4 “ or ½” seam allowance.  (Make sure you use the same seam allowance on the entire project) I did not make separate sleeves I made one seamless dress.
With right sides of the dress front and back together, pin the dress together on both sides, from the end of each sleeve all the way down the sides of the dress:
If you have a serger, finish off all your seams, by serging each one. If you do not a zig zag stitch will also work.
To create a finished edge around the neck – fold the fabric over 1/4 inch all the way around the area and press, and then fold it over again and press to create a casing for the elastic.  (so there are no raw edges)
Pin the neck all the way around, making sure when you sew it down that you leave an opening for the elastic to go in and to come out. I did not sew across the buttoned area.
Thread elastic through the neck casing with a safety-pin. Attach a safety-pin the end of your elastic. Thread the elastic on safety-pin several times, to avoid the skinny elastic ripping free.
My daughter is tall so I did not need to create a new hem line.  You might need to do so depending on the height of your child and the size of the shirt.

To apply the applique on the peasant dress:

Cut a section of fusible web for each layer of your appliqué design. Remove one side of the backing from your fusible web sections. With theside of your material facing up, apply the fusible web to the material. Set the iron to a cotton setting with no steam.   
Run the fabric pieces through the die cut machine or draw your images on the back of the webbing and cut out with scissors.   
Carefully press these pieces to affix them to your garment.
Use a blanket stitch with floss to embellish.

 

Peasant Dress TIPs

#1: Be careful not to drag your iron across your design, as this could cause your appliqué design pieces to shift. Instead, lift the iron up and then place it down onto the next section of your design as you work.

#2: Use your choice of stitches to applique the design onto the fabric.  I used a blanket stitch.  

#3: Do not worry if your lines are not straight or your corners are not perfect.  They add to the uniqueness of the project.

AND simply because I can – this picture.  I am not sure what I asked her but clearly she was not happy with my question.  Seriously I cannot tell you how much I love this girl.