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Debbie Shore's Dressmaking Studio: T-shirt Dress
Very easy |
Quick Links: What you'll need Project steps
Give your old clothes a new lease of life and upcycle your t-shirts to sew a simple t-shirt dress.
About the project
This tutorial is taken from Portia Lawrie's book The Re:Fashion Wardrobe. Demonstrated within this project is the principle of adding additional fabric/length to an existing garment to add length – in this case, turning a T-shirt into a dress. This basic concept can be applied, in some form, to any of the tops in this book to create dress versions. You can add a gathered ‘frill’, like the one here, or a panel of ungathered fabric for a more minimalist, ‘column-like’ look. Good-quality cotton jersey becomes softer and softer over time. Black T-shirts are a great addition to your refashioning pile because they can become faded, shrink or the ribbing becomes worn.About the book
The Re:Fashion Wardrobe teaches you how to sew a sustainable capsule wardrobe that is tailored to you and with it, help break the cycle of throw-away fashion. It was awarded 'Best Upcycling Book' and 'Best New Author' at the Creative Book Awards, 2024. The fashion industry is the second biggest environmental polluter on the planet. Every year, over 350,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill in the UK just under 14 million tonnes in the US much of it owing to fast fashion. Furthermore, it’s estimated that many of us wear only 20% of our wardrobe regularly, with the other 80% languishing in our wardrobes unworn, or worse contributing to those ever-growing landfill figures. Learn how to alter or create entirely new garments from pre-loved clothes or forgotten fabrics that are not only chic but don't cost the earth. Beginning with advice on equipment, fabrics and how to source your clothes for refashioning, Portia Lawrie will then take you step-by-step through a collection of 11 garments that she has reworked, showing you just how easy it is to refresh or drastically change any piece of clothing you come across. Every garment in the collection can be used to create a modern capsule wardrobe that you can wear throughout the year, and Portia has included advice on how to adjust the garments in the book to make versions suitable for different times of the year.About the author: Portia Lawrie
Portia Lawrie is a predominantly self-taught dressmaker and designer who has been passionate about recycling for most of her life. Portia is the founder/creator of The Refashioners, an annual sewing event that launched in 2011. It aims to challenge the global sewing community to look at old clothes in a new light, and provides inspiration and tutorials (and often a huge competition prize) to encourage participation and get this message across. Portia has been a contributor to Simply Sewing magazine since its launch in 2015, designing and writing reader tutorials for a mix of refashioning, pattern hacks and patternless projects. She was awarded Dressmaker magazine’s Dressmaker of the Year 2017. Her winning entry was a quilted denim coat made from old jeans. In 2020, Portia and fellow designer Samantha Claridge launched The ChangeMaker Initiative, which offers a range of products tailored towards Makers. Its profits are donated to charities that promote positive social and environmental changes. Portia lives in rural Essex, UK, with her partner and teenage son. Check out her socials @portialawrieTips and tricks
- Use the same process and more T-shirts to create a tiered maxi dress.
- Add pockets, using some of the fabric from the leftover upper T-shirt sections.
- Use T-shirts of different colours, tones, and prints for a more colourful piece.
- Position the seam joining the skirt to the T-shirt at the waist or under the bust for different silhouettes.
- Add an ungathered panel instead.
- Each of the three T-shirts had faded slightly differently. Once the refashion was complete, the dress was given a refresh dye with a black machine dye to create an even colour throughout the garment.
- Dyeing means you can combine different T-shirts and unify their colours. Just remember to use cotton thread for any top-stitching as synthetic thread will not take the dye.
- Accept that there may be a variance in the final result: if, for example, the fabric being dyed was not all the same colour to begin with, dyeing may create different tones of one colour.
- Fabric scissors
- Paper scissors
- Long-nosed thread snips
- Japanese thread snips
- Stanley knife and scalpel
- Rotary cutter and mat
- Seam ripper
- Side cutters
- Tape measure
- Metre, standard and quilter’s rulers
- Seam gauge
- Tailor’s chalk
- Hera marker
- Pencils and ballpoint pens
- Three relaxed-fit T-shirts (these are made from a cotton jersey blend)
- One pack of black dye (optional)
Member Discount
All Half Yard Sewing Club Members can get 30% off The Re:Fashion Wardrobe with their membership. Just click here for your exclusive offer code!MEMBERS ONLY: To gain full access to the Half Yard Club projects please login or sign up
You will need:
Equipment
Materials
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Project steps:
Step 1
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Step 2
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