Two Shirts into One Shirt dress Refashion

I LOVE refashioning shirts! There are so many refashioning possibilities from one garment.

 I do find it hard to find nice shirts for refashioning though, I'm not a huge fan of trawling through the rails of my local charity shops [think less quality shirts and more tracksuits with juicy on the behind]

So instead I have to look to either Rikki who wears the same size shirt as me or my Dad [He doesn't wear the same size as me............]

Luckily for me my Dad was getting rid of a few shirts...... because I made him. And even luckier two of the shirts were exactly the same. FYI shopping with my dad is absolute hell so he must have REALLY liked these if he ended up with two!!! 

  

They are good quality shirts that require cuff links, made from cotton and have DEHAVILLAND written in the label which means nothing to me!

To start off I laid my shirt flat and got out my Lilou bodice pieces. Next I lay the pattern piece so the fold line went along the centre of the buttons on the button placket [I decided to use the button placket as my opening]. Then I transferred the pattern marking and flipped the pattern piece so I could do the same on the other side. If I were to do this again I would leave myself a bit more room for gaping, so I'd go from one side of the buttons instead!

Next I cut of the single layer of my shirt front and cut straight across the back yoke where to make a halter neck shape. 

Then I chucked it on my mannequin to check my theory worked. 

And then used what was left of the back to cut out my back bodice pieces [I omitted the seam allowance on the back centre seam and cut them on the fold.] 

The skirt was made by using the second shirt and simply cutting a straight line from the bottom of the arm to the bottom of the other arm. then simply I gathered this and added it to the bottom making sure to match up the button plackets and side seams.

I used the arms of the shirt to make bias binding, which I used on the arm holes and the back. And I don't want to excite you too much but I didn't even have to hem it! Just used the original shirt hem! 

I've gotta say I really love how it looks! I could do with a bit more ease in the bodice but I am carrying a little bit of Easter width! Those pesky chocolate bunnies making me eat them.

I love the cut out back detail! It's so cute, I finished the edges of this with bias binding as well!

The pinstripes on this are making my eyes go west! It's kind of a white and darkish brown colour palette? Typical business man shirt sort of thing.

The bodice fits better open, in fact a slightly different bra might help? Jeez its hard being a lady so many things to think about!

I think I'm going to be wearing it with this belt a lot for a lil bit of waist definition. The belt is also thrifted from a skirt! 

All in all I really love it, I've been wanting a shirt dress for ages and I love the relaxed style of this, it's pretty short but I think I can get away with it [please excuse my pasty skin I don't tan]

It was so lucky that I had two of these shirts to make this with although it might look cute with two shirts in different colours and doing some colour blocking. It could also help with adding some length! 

In other news, Lil man is back at nursery and I'm not pleased because he was fine over the two weeks! Not so much as a sniffle and then one day back and he's coughing and spluttering! Who are these germ infested children! And why aren't they keeping them away from the healthy ones!!!

Anyway I guess that's just what happens when you get large groups of toddlers together, and on the plus side if he passes it on to Rikki then they have to go on bed rest and I'll have lots of time to sew!

Now I just need to decided what to make next, this was pretty spur of the moment!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx