About

Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 2h30

Two new cute and easy dresses from those old t-shirts
I finally finished it !

While doing the tutorial, I ended up trying something different, so all of the pictures are for the shoulder peep dress, but I'll include instructions for both in each step. I can get a little jumbly while explaining things, so if youdon't understand something, let me know and i'll try to explain better(:

And the larger shirt you use, the longer sleeves you'll have.

Follow my projects on instagram (: @Kiana_Jenae

Posted by Kiana Jenae • Published 25th September 2012 • See Kiana Jenae's 6 projects »

Tags

Print • Embed

AnA W. favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 23 Jul 12:27
Key West Witch favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 05 May 08:11
Rhonda G. favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 12 Sep 06:42
prettyDistraction favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 02 Sep 15:46
amyakai added Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress to Dresses 24 Aug 02:45
Tierra T. favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 14 Oct 16:52
Momoka added Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress to accessories 24 Sep 21:28
Momoka added Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress to skirts and dresses 24 Sep 21:28
Crystal P. favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 07 Sep 18:10
Orsolya K. favorited Men's 3x L T Shirt Into A Cute Backless Dress 26 Aug 12:43

Step 1
So, first off, use the tape measure to find out what your measurements are. I used a little diagram from mine.

You want to measure around the largest part of your bust, the slimmest part of your waist, and the widest part of your hips.

Also, measure around your arm an inch or two below your armpit and from your shoulder to your waist.
Step 2
Lay out your t-shirt INSIDE OUT (don't mind my picture, lol).
Step 3
Using the measuring tape, measure across the bottom of the t-shirt.
Mine was 24 1/2 inches

This is where it gets a bit tricky to explain.

You need to choose a measurement a few inches less than your hip size, but if your busty, you may run into problems. My bust and my hip size were not too far apart so I chose a measurement an inch or two bigger then my bust size. If your measurements are similar, then do the same, but if your bust and hip sizes are very much different from each other, you'll need to choose a measurement that will be snug around the hips, but won't be too tight around your bust.
Step 4
Take this measurement (I chose 34 inches)and divide it by two (=17)
Subtract this from the measurement of the bottom of the t-shirt.
(So, 24.5-17=7.5)
Divide this again by 2, (=3.75)

This last number you got is the amount of inches you'll need to take off from each side of the t-shirt.
So, using your chalk or marker, mark this measurement all the way up from the bottom of the shirt until you get to the sleeves of the t-shirt.
Don't cut anything yet.

(In the picture, I ended up rounding my 3.75 to a flat 4 inches)
Step 5
For the sleeves, take the measurement of your arm and divide it by two. (If you're making the white dress, add an inch or two after dividing it)

I ended up with 6 inches, so mark six inches from the top edge of the sleeve until you get to the other marking you made at the side of the shirt. Make your lines meet up.
Step 6
Put a few pins along your markings and cut about 1/4 inch from your markings.

Save at least one of the pieces you cut off.

If you want, you can sew the edges now, or wait until after the next two steps.
Step 7
Mark your measurement from your shoulder to your waist.

Now we're essentially repeating step four, by taking your waist measurement and dividing it by two. Subtract this by the measurement across of what's left of the t-shirt and divide that by two as well. This equals the "point" of the taper. Make this mark by the measurement of where your waist is.
Step 8
Free hand or using a straight edge, draw lines that connect to the armpit and hip. Try to make your lines a bit less angular than mine. Sharp edges will create bulges on the finished product.

Also, after sewing this, I realized that it was too loose around my bust, so I extended my sleeve inward an inch on both sides and connected the lines to that.
Step 9
FOR THE BACK OF THE BLACK DRESS, SKIP TO STEP 17

Okay, for the back, you're going to want to measure about 11-12 inches down from the middle of the collar or 3-4 inches below the armpit, then mark a line across the entire back. This should be about where your bra ends, so hopefully, it'll cover it.
Alternately, make a line 2 inches below this, then one 2 and a half inches below the previous, then another 2 inches below that until you have 6 lines. The strips that are only 2 inches wide are to be cut off entirely.
Step 10
Okay, for the open sleeves, decide how big of an opening you want by measuring from the middle your shoulder down your arm. I started about 4 inches away from the collar.
Step 11
I chose to make my opening about 9 inches long. I found a piece of (something like) card stock that was just about 9 inches long. You can use a regular piece of paper if you want, but this happened to be in arm's reach of where I was sitting.

I folded it in half and cut out a curved shape. Sort of like the way you cut out a paper heart.
Step 12
Trace your cut-out on both sleeves to create your opening, then cut it out.
Step 13
At the end of the sleeves, I added a piece that tightened the sleeve to my arm and made the sleeves slightly puffy.

To do it, first measure about 2 and a half inches down from the cut-out and cut that portion of the sleeve off.
Step 14
Refer to your arm measurement and divide it by two. Subtract the measurement of the portion of the sleeve you cut off and that will be how much you will cut off of the sleeve.

You should end up with something similar to this.
Step 15
Your sewing machine should have a running stitch setting, so you can use that for this step, or, you can use a sewing needle, which I prefer, to sew a running stitch along the edge of the sleeves of the dress.

Once you've gotten it sewn, you want to pull the end of the thread so that the fabric gathers. You'll want this to be about the same size as the part of the sleeve you cut off.

Make sure to match up the seams when you sew these together.
Step 16
When you finish, you should end up with something like this.
Step 17
Sorry i don't have pictures for this, but for the black dress, cut off the collar and make sure you stay right along side the seam of collar when you do.

Measure 4-5 inches down from the newly cut collar and mark a line across the entire back at that point.

Ensure that your measurement is below the armpit and not in the middle of the sleeves. If not, just add an inch or so.
In the main picture, you can see that the bottom of the back-out portion is curved. My curve was about 3 inches deep, so from the middle of your marked line, measure around 8 inches down depending on how far down you want the back-out to go, and put a mark there.

About 3 inches above this and towards the seams, make a mark on each side. You should have three marks that resemble a parabola before you connect the dots.

Now you need to connect these marks and cut out the back out.

Hem all the raw edges.

If you try it on and realize there are bulges just under the bust, then you'll need to put a dart there on each side to get rid of it.

Now, the last thing is the bow. Take a piece of the scrap t-shirt you cut off. You'll need to cut a piece of fabric that's 4.5 by 4. Fold it in half so that the longer edges meet. Sew on that edge.
Now, wrap it around the top portion of the back of the dress and sew it together to make a tube. Careful not to catch the dress while sewing because now your going to turn that tube inside out to hide the sewing.

Fold your sleeves up and voila !
Finished !
Step 18
I waited until the end to hem the shoulder cut-outs, so I forgot to take a picture, but when I did, I ended up cutting the cut-out farther down so that it ended at the edge of the tightened portion of the sleeve.

I thought it looked a lot better, so that's just an idea to try, if you'd like.