upcycled t-shirt dress!

So, in between laying in bed, not showering, and reading blogs all day long, I've been spending my sick spring break days working on an upcycled t-shirt dress for Annabel (see Cheri's tutorial, which I linked to the other day). Oops, I mean "shirt." Upcycled SHIRT. You remember how Annabel rejects all dresses and skirts which do not meet her twirling standards? Well, I know for a fact this dress, while adorable, will not meet them. But I also really don't want her to reject it out of hand. So, I thought to myself, "It's all in the marketing." Right? My strategy is to market this to her as a "shirt," rather than a dress, in hopes that she will actually give it a try.

In any event, on to the results (eye candy first, process later):

Yay! Isn't it lovely? (And rainbow-riffic?) [It's also not as awkwardly long as it looks in this picture.]

So, there was your teaser. You'll have to skip to the end for more lovely photos. On to the creative process.

I was really excited when I saw this tutorial, because I have lots of old t-shirts that I still absolutely love, but that no-way, no-how are ever going to fit this post-baby body EVER again. Mostly the issue isn't that they're too tight, but that they're too short - a problem that's not going to change in this lifetime. Certain [err, umm] "expansions" that happened during pregnancy and nursing have made me even more long-waisted than I was before I got pregnant. This was somewhat baffling and extremely frustrating to me, because I have always had a hard time finding shirts long enough. Then, I had to go and literally out-grow the shirts I had looked long and hard to find! In any event, the point is that I've had this collection of pre-baby favorite t-shirts that I knew I couldn't wear anywhere except to bed, but that I absolutely couldn't bear to give away. They were just too unique and wonderful. 

Especially my rainbow t-shirts. Those who have known me for awhile know that I have a thing for rainbows. I LOVE them (along with thrift store t-shirts). Though my expression of this love has simmered down somewhat from the levels it attained in high school and college, the love remains. And it took about ten years of thrifting and gifts from thoughtful friends to score these three wonderfully rainbowy shirts:

And yet, none of them were wearable anymore. (Actually, the Hawaiian Moving Company shirt has a lot more issues going on besides fit (namely holes and nasty pit stains. yeah, it was done)). So, seeing this tutorial gave me just the outlet I needed to both let go of these too-short t-shirts AND reincarnate them into the better, prettier, and more appreciated life on full display that they deserve. (Cutting them into pieces still made me wince, though!)

I also immediately thought of this special shirt, which my best friend Lisa handed down to me after much admiring on my part:

I still love it. But it's pretty worn out at this point, and fits kind of awkwardly now. It, too, deserved a better life.

With rainbow and purple shirts in hand, I began my thorough sweep of our apartment in search of all our random give-away t-shirts. Lucky for me, Nate had already set a bunch aside for Salvation Army, so I knew I could cut them up without getting into trouble. (I didn't even end up using any of his, though.) I  knew that I wanted the dress shirt to have some rainbow flare, but I also didn't want to be tacky or over-the-top. Just in case, though, I did try and find t-shirts in all rainbow colors. The beginning of the visioning process:

I'm still kind of amazed I actually managed to find unwanted shirts in all colors of the rainbow. If Annabel likes this one, more dresses shirts may be coming down the pike!

 More visioning. I originally was going to use that polka-dot long-sleeved tee for the top.

The final vision. (Yet another use of those free jersey knit bedsheets!)

At the very last second, I pulled out an adorable waffle knit hooded tee from Auntie Lisa. 

I had always loved this shirt, but Annabel hardly ever wore it because A) She's long-waisted like me, and it quickly became too short (even though the arms are plenty long), and B) The V at the top meant she always had to wear a t-shirt underneath, which was impractical and inconvenient. 

So, I sewed in a little triangle from the collar of one of the t-shirts to permanently solve that problem. Perfect! (And, can you see the little rainbow flecks in the fabric? Even more perfect!)

So, the process of cutting out the strips of fabric was actually extremely tedious, time-consuming, and annoying. I hated it. Thus, I didn't take pictures. (Any pictures you'd need are on the tutorial anyways.) But I always hate the parts of sewing that rely on exact measurements and precise cutting, because that has never been my strong suit (either for my [non-3D] skill-set or my impatient [sinful] nature). But I really fought my nature on this one and took the time I needed to measure everything out as carefully as I could. In the end, some seams still ended up crooked and the whole thing didn't turn out quite as A-line as I'd hoped, in SPITE of my painstaking efforts to make it so. ...Sigh. Oh well. The lesson I learned is that I really, really need to acquire a rotary cutter and cutting mat. Those two items alone probably would have cut my time in half, at least. Can I tell you how impossibly frustrating it is to try and cut a straight line in t-shirt knit with a fabric scissors? Yeah. Pretty much one of Dante's circles of Hell.

These two tools (plus some working tailor's chalk) would have saved me a lot of time (and my sanity). [I'll pass on those fingernails though.] Too bad my birthday is eight months away.

But, on to the happy results, which in the end I am (indeed) quite happy with:

I'm very satisfied with the color and pattern combos that I decided on. 

I wanted it to be cheery and rainbowy, without being obnoxiously Rainbow Brite (hence, I didn't end up using any of the rainbow-colored t-shirts). Muted and neutral, yet still colorful and happy. I feel like I achieved this effect. 

My favorite touch: the rainbow that starts in the middle on the green stripe, and finishes at the bottom on the yellow stripe. One of the fruits of all that tedious measuring and planning.

The bottom of my Hawaiian Moving Company tee had this cute brand tag on it. I was excited to reuse this detail, even if it's [sort of] cheating. (But come on, Crazy Shirts should be proud to call this their own!)

The back. 

Love the "Le Semana" shirt's contribution, both on front and back. (Lisa, will you forgive me for cutting up your two gifts? :D) I also was excited to include some of the cute text from my "i'm always chasing rainbows" shirt. Not excited about the crooked seams. Oh well.

Bonus points for any North Parker who can spot one of our UMin tees here.

So, I love the end result, but the jury's out as to whether I will subject myself to a repeat-performance of this project. I feel like my prerequisites for taking that on will be 1) Acquisition of a rotary cutter (I think I can live without the mat for now) and 2) Annabel actually being willing to wear this. 

That last point remains to be seen. I'm purposely posting this before she gets home (without pictures of her in it) so that I can make sure to enjoy this project now, just in case she rains on my parade tonight by refusing to wear it. (Assuming she does like it, pictures will follow.)