Learn. How to Make a Kid T-Shirt Dress from an Undershirt.

Today's guest blogger is Mandy.  Mandy has been a craft challenge participant for a while and we've gotten to know each other through twitter.  Her blog is rather new so I hope you'll go and check it out!  She has a lot of great things on there.   

Hey everyone...this is Mandy from Id Rather Be Crafting and I'm so excited to be filling in for Christy. This post will show you one of two things:

First, I suck at laundry.

Second, (and in the vein of a Craft Challenge) if you use just a bit of craftiness, even a nasty old shirt bound for the trash can be turned into a cute dress or cover up, without using any thread!

 

 

This is the undershirt I started with....

I swear it was washed. Several times. But, as my husband is all man, it has gotten a “little” yellow around the pits. Despite that, it took only a few supplies and some elbow grease to give it a second life in my daughters wardrobe. Want to give it a try?

 

Take the nastiest shirt out of your husbands pile of dirty clothes drawer of freshly laundered undershirts and get to work. Our first step was dying the shirt. This isn't really necessary, but it does make it look less like an undershirt. Grab a box of dye from the craft store and follow the directions. Easy.

Once it is dry, throw it on your child. You will want to kind of pinch the front and back together around her side to get an idea of how tight or loose you want the dress. Also take note of where her arm pit is to make the arm hole later. I marked mine off with pins, but if you have a particularly wriggly child, I would suggest using a marker, just outside of the line you plan to cut. Then cut that bad boy all the way from the bottom of the shirt to the shoulder. Don't worry about cutting neatly, as most mistakes will be hidden as the t-shirt rolls and comes together.

Once you have your sides cut, take your scissors and make holes on the side you just cut, going from the bottom of the shirt, and stopping where you marked the arm pit. The holes should be about one inch apart from each other, and one inch in from the cut side. You will probably have to do the front then the back, but just try to make the holes line up. Then do the other side of the shirt! Once you're done, lace up the holes using either a ribbon, shoe lace, or some other scraps in any fashion you choose. If you tighten and scrunch the lacing, it will make the dress shorter – kind of like ruching.

 

 

 

For my oldest daughter, this is where the construction ended, but for my 4 year old, it was still too baggy. We ended up cutting the top of the shirt off (where the arm pit marks were) and making it a spaghetti top. I braided a few t-shirt scraps together and just poked a hole where they were placed, threaded the braid through, and made a knot on the back side to keep it in place.

 

 

 

The fun for the kids is decorating. Gather a bunch of different sized circles (using tupperware, bottles, cups, lids, etc) and put different colors of fabric paint on plates. We stuck a cereal box in between the layers and then I handed the reins to them. They turned out perfect!

After it dries, you are good to go! Make it unique with a different neck line, or fringe the bottom, or a different painting. It takes a little time, but was a great way to show my girls how to turn trash to treasure.

BlogHer Outfits

I received my clothes from IGIGI.com.  Let me just say that the pictures do not do them justice.  The fabric is wonderful!  The fit is great.  Let's just say, I'm super impressed.

The other day I went over to a friend's house for some "styling".  I needed a little help picking out some shoes and jewelry.  I wasn't able to try on the jewelry (I forgot my necklace extender so it didn't look right without it) and I wasn't really concerned about shoes for the black dress so I didn't bring them. 

*Please excuse the photos as my camera has a bit of a learning curve*

Here is my outfit for Friday. 

 

This is my outfit for Saturday.

My Thursday outfit hasn't been photographed yet.  You'll see it soon! 

What do you think? 

Want your own IGIGI clothes?  They are having a special sale in July.  20% off your purchase.  Use discount code "MYFRIENDS" at checkout. 

BlogHer Wardrobe Winners

Thanks for all of your votes.  I really was having a hard time deciding.  Here are the top 3 choices from your votes.  I'll be rocking these fabulous clothes from IGIGI at BlogHer in Chicago! 

 

Now I just need some jewelry and shoes. 

Stuff I Like. Dresses from Refibered

My mom special ordered some dresses from Kelly at Refibered for all of her granddaughters.  I got to pick out the fabric. 

You can read more about the dresses and see more pictures at Kelly's blog.   I got to pick out four different fabrics.  The dresses are totally reversible and either side can be worn in front.  A four in one, if you will.  On the top left you can see the two light blue fabrics.  One has polka dots and the other is a floral print.  The flip side of those are the bright floral and black/white.  Pink straps tie the whole thing together. 

She did such a great job on these dresses and I can't wait to see all of the girls wearing them.  There is enough fabric left over for me to make some little drawstring bags for each girl.  I'll post pictures of those as soon as they are made. 

*Don't forget to enter the Greeting Card Fashion Plates giveaway!*

Choose My Wardrobe

I am attending a few high profile events this summer including BlogHer, the Craft & Hobby Trade Show, and a Ford Ride & Drive Event for bloggers. Finding cute plus size clothes is always a struggle so I decided to look online and see what I could find. As soon as I saw the IGIGI website, I fell in love! Modest clothes for sizes 12-32. I contact their media department to see if they would be willing to sponsor my wardrobe for these events and they said yes! Not only that, but I'll have a $100 gift certificate to give away to one of my readers at the end of July.

I get to choose 3 pieces and I decided to let all you you help me pick. If you need a reminder of what my curves look like, you might want to check out my duct tape dress form post. Please keep those babies in mind when choosing my outfits! You can vote more than once but you can only vote for one item at a time. I'll also allow write-in votes. If you find something on the IGIGI website that you like better than the items I've picked, let me know in the comments!

*all pictures courtesy of IGIGI.com