New Year New Uses: Upcycling Tees
/We are continuing our week of fun Upcycles, and today we get to showcase one of the most used forms of upcycling in existence - upcycling a T-shirt. T-shirts are amazing, they are incredibly versatile, can be found in ever color under the rainbow, and of course are knit - which is generally my favorite medium to sew.
There are great patterns out there for upcycling T-shirt Pannels, but don't feel limited, you can use almost any pattern you have with T shirts!!! Rebekah is here to show off how she turned a too large shirt into an adorable Uptown/Downtown Dress.
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My first upcycle was many years ago. But let me tell you, it does get rather addicting. Before you know it you begin shopping for clothing just to be able to chop it up. Yeah sounds weird, but those that upcycle know exactly what I'm talking about. Well, while shopping for Christmas I found this awesome shirt with a saying that I just had to have for my daughter. Only problem...the shirt only came in women's sizes and the saying was pretty large. So now my challenge was to find the perfect way to make something for her that I could fit the whole saying on for a tiny 2yr old. It had to be something fun and cool too of course. Then I remembered I have the perfect pattern. The Uptown/Downtown Dress with expansion pack by Sew Straight and Gather was perfect for this. A knit A-line dress would show this off with style. Now this pattern comes in sizes 2T-10. Well my girl is not in a 2T yet. So I downsized it one size to fit her as well.
As you can see the front and the back are the tee I upcycled. Now because the dress is A-line but the shirt was square, I wasn't able to get the whole front and back of the dress out of the tee shirt. That triangle flare part just wasn’t going to fit on it. So I cut the pattern piece where the flare didn‘t fit on the tee (a triangle piece) added seam allowance, and then cut flare part from another tee. After sewing it back onto the main front and back this created an awesome accent piece to this dress. Now add fun sleeves and the cowl and you got yourself a cool dress for one cool little lady. Now it fits her!
So give it a try. Got something you don't particularly care for for Christmas? Or maybe you just can't let go of those old tees. Perhaps you found an awesome saying on a shirt but don't like the style. It even could be something that holds a memory that you want to give to another. Whatever it is, it's time to give it new life. So go ahead. Make it yours!.
