DIY Saturday: The Shirtdress
Men don't understand the importance of being earnest. Fashion-earnest, that is. To convey this importance to them, I've come up with a tutorial especially involving the men in our lives... or at least the shirt off their backs.
The required materials for this project are:
- a mens shirt (preferably oversized)
- a long skirt (circular or A-lined)
The first thing you need to do is put on the mens shirt and decide on the length of your shirtdress, or rather, where you want your skirt to begin.
Then fold your shirt into half, and draw a straight line across the front according to your desired length. Cut along the line, ensuring that you've left sufficient allowance ( 1cm ) to sew on. You're going to be using the bottom half of your skirt. This is because you want the excess in width to create the gathers of your dress.
Repeat the same step for the skirt. Fold into half, and draw a line according to the required length. If you're using a circular skirt, make sure the line you create is curved to follow the hem of the skirt. Leave a total of 2cm in allowance for the skirt. Fold the allowance in, and iron flat. Topstitch the allowance down.
To create gathers ( and also to make the skirt fit the shirt width perfectly ), just sew a loose line along the top of your skirt, and pull to fit. Topstitch that line to prevent the gathers from re-adjusting themselves as you pin the skirt onto the hem of your shirt.
Once the skirt is pinned onto your shirt, topstitch just below the gathers. You can also hide the gathers by stitching the hems front facing front, but I like the details of the gathers showing against the shirt.
And you're done! The same steps can also be used to create a short romper, just trade the skirt for a pair of shorts. Don't worry about explaining to your boyfriend/husband/lover/father why his shirt has become a dress... You'd look so cute in it that they'd simply admit defeat.
Have an awesome DIY Saturday!!! More next week!
