Made you look! I cut up a couple of men’s XL t-shirts and created this wrap-top dress. The deconstructed design keeps the ready-made sleeves and bottom hem of one of the shirts, allowing you to skip a couple of steps involved in your usual dress-making project.

I’d gauge this as a project for intermediate-level sewers: the construction is simple, you just need a certain degree of comfort tailoring the fit (adding gathers, ruching the sleeves, etc.) Here is more or less how it’s done:

What You Need:

2 men’s t-shirts (L to XL work for most of us)

scissors

straight pins

sewing machine and thread

What To Do:

 

1. Cut the side and sleeve seams of the first t-shirt.

2. Cut the t-shirt approximately 2 inches lower than your natural waist. Reserve the bottom band of t-shirt for making the waist tie.

3. Re-stitch the side and sleeve seams approximately 2 inches inside the original seams (or as fit to your body).

4. Cut the bodice down the center, and create two diagonal cuts from the center point to the shoulder seams.

5. Roll under the back collar and front edges and stitch a hem.

6. Pull the front panels to opposite sides of the waist– mark or pin placement while wearing the bodice to tailor the fit. Using a long stitch-length, stay-stitch the wrapped bodice bottom edge.

7. Make the waist tie by sewing two of strips remaining from step (2) to create one long strip. With right sides together, stitch one short side and the long side. Turn right-side-out and stitch the remaining short side closed.

8. To make the skirt, cut a horizontal line across the top of the second t-shirt below the collar. Cut two gradual diagonal lines to form an A-line shape.

9. Stitch the side seams of the skirt.

10. Turn the dress bodice inside out, and slip the skirt into the bodice so that the raw waist edges are matched with right sides together. Gather the skirt as necessary and pin to fit into the bodice. Stitch.

11. You can add details to the sleeves by shirring them (stitch the top center of each sleeve with a long stitch and pull the thread to create gathers, then stitch in place with a small-stitch length).

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