Bierkeller Dress: T-shirt to Drawstring Halter Dress Refashion

When I was asked to volunteer for a friend’s Oktoberfest event (you can learn more about Bierkeller Columbia right here), I of course said yes. Delicious Kolsch and an opportunity to help bring something special to Columbia? Heck yeah.

When I was asked if I’d like a shirt to refashion, I of course also said yes.

I was given this one. And I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Let’s turn this T-shirt into a DIY Drawstring Halter Top Dress!

There are many many ways to refashion tees. But the one I’m about to show you is definitely one of my favorites. 🙂

First, I snipped off the bottom hem.

Then, I cut down each side and removed the sleeves and neckline as well.

Keep in mind that the big logo was originally on the back. But I wanted it in the front! No worries.

I grabbed a dress from my closet that I liked the fit of…

…and I folded the two sides of my cut up tee in half, as well as the green dress.

Then I laid them out like so:

This will help make sure each side is nice and even.

Remember how I said I wanted the big Bierkeller logo to be in the front of this dress? That meant the original front would need to be a little shorter than the original back.

You can see what I mean here:

I stitched each side down…

Then, I pinned a casing to the new front and new back.

They both got stitched down…

…and then I used a thinly cut piece from the side scraps to make a drawstring, which got threaded through the front and back casings.

When I tried my new dress on, I decided it needed a little more tweaking to get the fit juuuust right.

This is usually the make-or-break part of any refashion, and a step I try to never skip. A little extra tailoring goes a long way. 🙂

And just like that, I was ready to help my friends throw one of the most fun events of the summer!

I chose to tie the drawstring off to one side, but you could easily do both sides, or just stitch the two ends together to make more basic straps.

• If you like this refashion, you might also like this DIY Drawstring T-shirt Refashion!
• Here’s an Easy Halter Dress Refashion you might want to check out.
• And here’s a T-shirt to Halter Top Refashion that uses ribbon for the ties.

Prost!