Wednesday, May 21, 2014

New Lives From Old T-Shirts {A Cute Nightgown}


  I had a lot of fun with this project. Sorry I didn't get it posted yesterday as planned - I was busy making it instead! (sometimes I just don't get everything done in the timeliness that I would like but we'll make do with the time we have!) I made a fancy little nightie.  I had fun trying out a couple of different techniques on it that I have seen others do elsewhere. I now have lots more ideas of places that I would like to try some of the things that I did with this project.
 This project has been one that I have long been planning on doing (for a year or so now) since I saw the two shirts in my re-purposing pile that both had yellow, dark orange and light orange on them and thought how pretty they looked together and decided it would make a cute nightgown. As easily happens though - the project got put off to make way for more important things.

 Besides the two multi-colored shirts I did also use a yellow shirt and an old white one. I took a lot of pictures of the process which I will share but I am not really going to give step by step instructions as I am doubtful you will have exactly what I have to work with nor will you necessarily want to make exactly what I made. Hopefully though you might gain some ideas from the process to be able to use in whatever project you do want to work on.

I wanted the striped shirts to be the base of the garment so I did some holding up on myself and figuring out just how it might work best.

I decided to cut off the sleeves and neckline and V the neck as shown above.
 Then I took the white shirt and cut a section out like this to use as a base for the "skirt". This is just to sew the ruffles on to so it is not really seen.

 Then I cut ruffles out. To make these I found larger sections of fabric and simply cut them in a spiral strip with the strip being close to the same width all the way. It doesn't have to be perfect.
 Now it is time to attach them. I pinned on the first strip but then I just sewed them on without pinning after that. I spiraled up the tube taking turns between the yellow and the floral. I do think it would look good in all one color too but I didn't have enough fabric to do that.

The picture above shows the process of sewing it on.

 Next I decided to work on straps. I cut the hem (plus some extra) off of the sleeves and then just folded and sewed it again so that it was sturdy.
 I then pinned on the straps as shown and also put a folded over piece of fabric down in the V and pinned and then sewed it in place.
 Next I cut out a bunch of narrow yellow strips which I sewed, ruffling up as I went, all around the neck line and arm holes. I also attached the back of the straps to the back before I sewed the yellow ruffle on there.

I did also sew the side seams of the shirt in farther so that it wouldn't be gappy.

 I attached the skirt to the top but tucking the skirt inside the bottom of the shirt and then just sewing a top stitch to hold it all together.
 Here is a closer look at the top.
I think it turned out pretty cute though I am not sure how practical it is as a nightgown but it doesn't cover well enough for me to wear it elsewhere. I think it will work. Another time though I want to use some of these ideas to make some cute skirts and dresses.

 Next week I plan on sharing a list (with links) of a bunch of different ways you can re-purpose t-shirts. If you have written a post about re-purposing t-shirts I would love to know about it so I can add it to my list!

Or if you just have a comment or idea on re-purposing t-shirts I would love to hear them!

5 comments:

Sheila said...

Wow - that turned out so well! I think it's the cutest thing you've ever shown on your blog! I didn't do this, but saw this earlier today: http://todayscreativeblog.net/5xl-t-shirt-to-swimsuit-cover-up/. She bought a big t-shirt at Dollar Tree and turned it into a cover-up. I think it's the ruffles you did at the bottom that really 'make' your nightgown. It seems to me it would be really comfortable for sleeping as well as being cute!

Crystelle said...

What a fabulous new life you have given these old shirts... I have a hard time getting rid of old t-shirts,because I visualize all the fun things I could still make out of them!! Great job!! :)
hugs x, Crystelle
Crystelle Boutique

Abbi said...

Thanks ladies!

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

That is so cute I had to pin it!

Jackie said...

What a cute upcycled t-shirt project. Great job!

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