Subscribe to updates via email!

Day 296: Forest Fairy Dress: A T-shirt to Dress Refashion

Day 297: Deb Day Top
Day 295: Giraffe-tastic Top

I’m quite happy with today’s refashion, you guys!  🙂  I started with this $1 3x long sleeve tee from Goodwill.

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion before image
Honey, I shrunk the Jillian!

I chose this big tee for a couple of reasons.  First off, it’s made of really high-quality thick cotton jersey, which isn’t always easy to find.

I also knew I’d want to make it into a dress, and the only shirts I can really do this with have to be 2x or greater, otherwise they won’t be long enough.

The first thing I needed to do was get this shirt in shape.  🙂  I put it on my dress form right-side-out and pinned the sides.

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion pinning on dress form
Are you wondering why I didn’t turn it inside-out? 🙂

Then, I sewed the sides up, except for the sleeves!

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion sewing
Whirrr!

Then, I did some cutting!

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion cutting sides
Do you see where I’m going here?

I cut two small holes right next to the seams on my waist.

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion cutting hole
Holey Moley! 🙂

I cut the sleeves off the two side strips, and stitched my two strips together.

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion before sewing sash
Two becoming One! Awwwww! 🙂

I reached into my dye stash, and pulled out this guy:

rit dye
Verde Suave!

Now, as some of you might remember, the washing machine in my new digs doesn’t get hot water for some reason.  :/  As I want a nice, dark, saturated hue for my new dress, cold water just wasn’t an option. 

I was also running late to meet a friend from out of town, and really needed to do all of my girly getting ready stuff.  This meant I really didn’t have time to sit and stir a pot of dye for an hour. :/

So, I did what any lazy girl would do, I just wadded up the dress and plopped it into a dye bath on my stove, and left it there for an hour.  I knew the dye wouldn’t set evenly…but I was optimistic.  I figured an uneven dye job could end up looking pretty cool.  🙂

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion dye bath
Abandoning my dress to its fate!

After the hour was up, I rinsed it in my machine.

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion rinsing dye
Rinsey Rinsey!

After it was all rinsed out, I dried it, and tossed it on just in time to head out to meet an old college pal from my theatre days!  🙂

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion after image
I seriously love this one, folks! 🙂

I realllllly like this one!  I like my side fin things, how the sash works, and the uneven green color!

My hip new dress was perfect for a day spent at the very hip Indie Grits Film Festival!

But first…I needed to taste a bit of wine at Cellar on Greene.  😉

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion with friends
Happy Winos! 🙂

Then, Gary and I checked out a few short films at the new Nickelodeon Theater…

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress with friend
Happy Filmgoers! 🙂

One of which was in 3-D!

Day 296: Forest Fairy Dress: A T-shirt to Dress Refashion 2
The filmmaker actually made her own 3-D specs AND hand-painted them too! 🙂

We even got to vote on which films we liked best!

Day 296: Forest Fairy Dress: A T-shirt to Dress Refashion 3
I am the DECIDER!!!! 🙂

This was such a fun and busy day!  We went around checking out the studios a few local artists, and even saw a puppet slam that night!!!  Sadly, I couldn’t take any pics (flash photography is a major no-no!), but the show was completely amazeballs!

Day 296: Forest Fairy Dress: A T-shirt to Dress Refashion 4
This. Was. Awesome. 🙂

I love days like this where there are tons of awesome & unique cultural events going on in my little city.  It really makes me proud to live here in Columbia, SC.  🙂

Cheers!

refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion before and after main image
refashionista forest fairy dress: t-shirt to dress refashion before and after Pinterest image
Day 297: Deb Day Top
Day 295: Giraffe-tastic Top

6 thoughts on “Day 296: Forest Fairy Dress: A T-shirt to Dress Refashion”

  1. I am Quite a bit larger than you, but have lost about 80lbs this year. I have a mens 5X ties dye Tshirt that I can do this too. I discovered your Blog on 6/29 & am working my way back. I have so many Clothes waiting for refashioning it is going to be so exciting to get started.
    Also don’t forget that Stained Tshirts make great Rags for the kitchen. We are down to 1/2 roll of Paper towels per month from 1 every 2 days.

    Reply
  2. This is one of my faves 🙂 I had to re-read and study the pics to finally get what you did with the holes! Thanks for yet another inspiration, I’m digging for something to try this with NOW!

    Reply
  3. i must admit, i really did NOT know where you were going when you stitched up the ‘right-side-out’ tee shirt. But i must also admit, it’s ADORABLE on you! I have also been kinda hoarding some 2xl and 3xl tee shirts from the mens section of my goodwill store, the softer the better..not sure what I would do with them. I’ve made a few cute halters out of some, but THIS might be my next refashion 🙂 Great idea and the dye job totally rocked!

    Reply

What do you think?