DIY Women's T-Shirt Dress!

Here's the project I made for September's Upcyclers Creativity Challenge.  Check out my August post, which also includes links to all the previous challenges that I have participated in.  Here is the description of this month's challenge:  "for this month the medium will be a t shirt. You can use any and every part of the t shirt. Nothing is off limits here. :)  There are so many things you can do to upcycle a t shirt, and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!"  

Here are the shirts I gathered for my project:
Some old shirts of mine, a garage sale find, and a couple thrift store scores.

I combined two pins that I have been looking at for a long time to create my project.  I'm so happy I had an excuse to realize them!  The first was this one, an adorable upcycled little girls' t-shirt dress, that I wanted to make in an adult size.

from: http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/

The next one was this one, a super cool and modern dress from Anthropologie.  It was originally priced at $268, yeah RIGHT, so I was convinced to find a way to DIY it.  (It's on sale for $69.95 now, which is a huge improvement, but still out of my budget.)  I can't figure out how to post the picture of that one, but click here to check it out.

So, I wanted my dress to be a little more grown-up than the kiddie one, but I didn't have the right supplies to make it as uniform as the anthro one.  I basically used the tutorial for the kid dress, so follow that one if you want to make something similar.  I kept my seams on the inside though, to make it look a little more finished.  I started off with an tee of mine that had a polo style top that fit well, but it was kinda tight in the belly area, so I didn't wear it often.  I cut it just below the buttons.  Then I cut some wider strips in colors that went together from a few other old t-shirts.  I used another dress I had as a guide for the width and length (don't forget seam allowances - I almost forgot).  I wanted some with some unique designs on them, to look a bit like the screenprinting on the anthro dress.  I sewed the strips together (first a panel for the front, then one for the back, then sewed up the sides.  Finally, I attached it to my cut-off top shirt.  Here's the result:

Comfy and fun t-shirt dress!
Cost: about $3!

Keeping it cozy with a white hoodie.

Dressing it up for fall with a black cardigan and boots.

 The back of the dress is just other parts cut from the same shirts, but without the screenprinting.  To be honest, I almost like the plain colorblocking (without the printing) better and if I even make another dress, I'll probably just use plain colored t-shirts.  Overall, I'm very happy with it and looking forward to wearing it often!

Check out Team Upcyclers and check out everyone's entries (which will be posted around the end of the month) on the Upcyclers Creative Challenge Board.