Shirt To Dress Diy

Simple shirt to breezy summer dress in no time!

Posted by Mark Montano

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Turn a basic shirt or thrift store score into a breezy summer dress with just a little fabric and a few simple stitches!

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You Will Need (7 things)

  • Shirt
  • 1 yd Fabrics
  • Sewing Machine
  • Matching Thread
  • Scissors
  • 30 in Long separating Zipper
  • Straight Pins

Steps (5 steps, 80 minutes)

  1. 1

    Shirt
    1 1/2 yards of fabric
    Sewing machine
    Matching thread
    30" long separating zipper
    Scissors
    Straight pins

  2. 2

    Cut across the shirt 1" below the waist
    If your shirt has pleats or details, run a stitch along the cut
    Attach two pieces of 30" long fabric together side by side
    *Our fabric was 54" wide so we now have a piece that is 30" x 108"
    Lengthen the stitch and loosen the tension on the machine
    Run a stitch along the fabric about 1/2" from the edge
    Pull the bobbin thread to gather the fabric

  3. 3

    Measure the circumference of the shirt
    Gather the fabric to this length and add 2"
    Stitch the gathered fabric and the shirt together (right sides together)
    Fold the extra one inch over the end of the shirt and stitch
    *This will give you a finished edge
    Press and then pin the zipper to the front of the dress face down starting at the collar

  4. 4

    Watch the video tutorial here:

  5. 5

    Stitch on the zipper
    *I purposely did not use a zipper foot because I wanted some of the zipper to show
    Hand tack the end of the zipper down at the neck
    Turn the fabric 1/4" twice and hem