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Re-Purposing: Girl’s Dress

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Ready for a new re-purposing project? I grabbed a too short knit shirt of mine that I used to wear with a linen skirt of mine.

And combined the two….to create a new little creation for this little Miss.

Wowza…...such a big girl!

With a cute pleated detail at the top…

And a matching pleat along the bottom.

Warning: May cause dancing outbursts.

Can you believe that was my old knit shirt? Thanks to the GAP for creating a shirt that will now last through the two of us.

I constructed the top half of the dress, just like the sweater dress here. I used this blue shirt on top as a guide for how wide to make it and the size of the neck hole.

But I made it longer than that little blue shirt. About mid-thigh. (The length of the finished shirt is totally up to you and the size of your little girl…)

Then I created some sleeves from the sleeves of the original shirt and put it all together. (I didn’t have to hem the sleeves or the neck-line because I used the original hems of the shirt.)

Then I cut off 6-8 inches or so of the skirt, to create the pleats around the bottom.


(If you’re using other random fabric, make your strip about twice as long as the entire way around the bottom of the dress. Then it will give you enough room to pleat.)

**Next I folded down the top of the material a 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch and hemmed it in place.

Then I folded the material every few inches or so to create pleats, and pinned it into place. I had to adjust a few times to make the width of this material the same width as the bottom of the black material.

Then I pressed the pleats nice and flat. Next, I attached this section to the bottom of the black material by laying it right on top. Then I sewed a seam about 1/4 of an inch down (maybe a 1/3 of an inch) from the top of the pleated section. And then another seam a 1/4 inch below that, to make it nice and secured to the dress.

Then, I cut a strip of fabric that was about 5 x 12 inches and hemmed under all of the raw edges.

And then I created pleats all the way down.

Next, I attached this little pleated strip to the front of the shirt with a couple of seams, making it nice and secure.

And then I added buttons on top of that.

Whew, all done.

And happy as a clam.

Ashley Johnston

Administrator at Make It & Love It
Ashley Johnston is a professional DIY costume maker, sewist, crafter, and owner of Make It & Love It. She is a mom of 5 and a wife to a very patient (with the craft clutter) husband. In case you’re wondering, she always chooses crafting/sewing/designing over mopping/dusting/wiping base boards……but bathrooms/laundry/full bellies are always attended to. Whew!

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Hi, I'm Ashley

Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!

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