4th of July Outfit with upcycled T-shirt Dress. Ever since I overcame my fear of my serger (Brother 1034D ) I have been obsessed with upcycling old t-shirts and repurposing them into cute dresses and skirts for my daughter.
Once a month my local thrift store has 1/2 price day. I took advantage of that and found a cute patriotic shirt and three matching t-shirts and was able to make an adorable 4th of July dress for my for $4.
Plus I made some t-shirt yarn with the red, pink and blue shirts as well.
You can see I added a little more bling to the top by adding some rhinestones. My daughter is super girly so anything sparkly and shiny and she is in love.
This idea is also great for shirts that have a stain on it or little holes that we seem to often get in the bottom of shirts.
How To Upcycle a T-shirt into A Patriotic Dress
1. Find a t-shirt that you like that doesn’t have a huge design on it and cut under the arm pits.
2. Next cut up old t-shirts. I chose to cut up 3 different colored t-shirts 3″ each and did 2 of each color.
Make sure you cut the same amount for the back of the dress.
Also use the bottom of one of the t-shirts so you don’t have to hem it. That is a nice shortcut.
3. I used a serger but you can easily use a regular sewing machine like I did for my other upcycled t-shirt dresses.
Sew all the t-shirt strips together.
4. Next measure the width of the cut t-shirt bodice. Mine was 11 1/4″ wide.
So I cut the top of the sewn t-shirts to 11 3/4″ wide at the top and then angled it (so it will have a nice A-line).
So the bottom of my skirt was 14″ wide.
(I folded it it half before cutting it so I could make one cut)
5. Cut both the front and back the same.
6. Next match up the sewn t-shirts right sides together pinning the sides. Sew the right and left sides together.
7. Lastly with ride sides together pin and sew the bodice to the skirt.
It is perfect for Kayla. I love the length and the colors. I also made some t-shirt yarn hair bows to go with it.
Cutest Lil Firecracker I ever did see!
The little added bling with the heat set rhinestones.
Love this, so cute! I need to pull out my sewing machine more, and not be so afraid of it!
Totally! I was afraid of my serger but am loving it now. This DIY dress is one of my faves!
This is sooo cute! Adorable, you’re really talented! 🙂 Maybe, I’ll get inspired to do some more stuff like this. I’ve got a sewing machine, a very basic one, and hardly ever use it.
You are sweet, Patricia. Thank you so much! It’s really one of those things that will come easily with a little practice. Dust that baby off! 😉
So cute and I would love to know how you did the hairbow. I looked and haven’t seen it yet, did I miss it? Thanks!
It is coming soon, Rachel. Stay tuned! 😉