Shirt Dress Tutorial

I'm not sure what to call this: the Suri Dress Tutorial? It's a shirt dress, but that's what Dana called her Shirt Dress, which is where a lot of the inspiration came. Maybe "Super Easy Shirt Dress Tutorial"? Any suggestions?

Ok, here's what you'll need (besides a sewing machine and thread, obvs):
A shirt- I used a size small for Brighton's black and gray dress, the one in this tute is an XL

elastic (I used 1/4")

measuring tape, pins, rotary cutter or scissors
and stuff for embellishments

And 10 minutes, if you can spare them.

1. Cut the sleeves off your shirt, right next to the seams.

2. Cut the seams off of the sleeve, leaving the shape intact.

3. Measure 1" away from the "armpit" (or more if you want longer sleeves) and cut straight across.

Just like this.

4. Measure 1" from the top edge of your sleeve and cut off, creating a straight edge on the top of your sleeve. I didn't do this with the first one, and the neck was a little awkward. So, you don't HAVE to do this, it just makes things a little bit easier. Repeat on the other sleeve.

5. Lay your sleeve next to the arm hole and mark with a pin where the top of the sleeve hits.

6. Fold your shirt in half lengthwise.

7. Using your pin marker from the sleeve, cut it straight across.

8. Measure down about 1 1/2" on your folded edge and create a curved neckline for your dress. You can do the neckline in one step if you want!
9. Turn your shirt (now, dress body) inside out and place a sleeve in the arm hole, right sides together, lining up the seams in the arm pit.
10. Pin in place. You can see the top straight edge of the sleeve will NOT be pinned into the dress body. It will become part of the neckline.

Your sleeve should look like this!11. Sew the sleeves in, making your dress look like a short sleeved boat neck shirt.

12. Fold the neckline in 1/2" towards the wrong side to create a casing for elastic. Be sure to leave a few inches open!

13. Thread your elastic through using a safety pin, or an elastic threader if you've got one.
14. Figure out how big to leave the neckline by trying it on your little one. Or just guess if they're a big stinker and you don't want to wrestle with them and your dress full of pins. Sew the ends of the elastic together and sew your casing closed. Now you have a cute neckline to your dress!

15. Fold your dress in half, on itself. So your dress top will be sandwiched between the bottom half of your dress. See inside there? That's the inside of the dress top.
16. Pin your fabric together, but be sure not to get all the layers together. We're going to create a casing for the waist.

17. Sew around your fold, leaving an opening for your elastic to go through.
18. Turn your dress right side out, and find your waist band opening.
19. Thread some elastic through. Have your little one try it on again or just guess how big to leave the waist, sew the ends of the elastic together, and sew your casing closed (on the inside of the dress).

20. And there you go. Embellish however you'd like and you have a dress just like Suri Cruise would wear (but a heck of a lot cheaper!)

PS- I picked up a bunch of shirts on clearance at Walmart- The black and gray shirt was $3 and this gray and pink one was $1. Hurry! They were out of the black and gray when I went back this past weekend.

*Edit 8/13/2012: Just saw that this was getting pinned onto Pinterest so I wanted to put in here that Brighton is almost 5 and wearing this dress now. It fits her pretty perfect and she's mostly average in height and weight. You could always get two shirts if they're super cheap and add a ruffle on the bottom if you're making it for a girl who's taller or older. Enjoy!