Shirt to Play Dress

During the cooler months my girls live in play dresses and leggings. Easy and comfortable to play in, but also high on cute factor. Perfect for back to school! I used to buy a ton of Hanna Andersson dresses and leggings for my girls before I started sewing with knits. I still love Hanna, but how I cringe at the money I spent when I could have just been making play dresses myself!

When I first started sewing with knits I searched high and love for the perfect knit dress pattern. I couldn't find it, so I started coming up with my own. I'm going to show you a simple way you can modify a shirt pattern (or you could use a ready made shirt), to make that perfect play dress.

Here I've modified a Carla C's All The Rage Raglan , but you could use any knit top pattern (think Lil Blue Boo if you are joining the sew-a-long).

Let's begin!

Ok, start by laying out your top front pattern piece on your fabric as if you are going to cut it out. From the underarm, use a ruler and angle out the side about an inch. If you are using a ready made shirt you won't be able to do this, but if making your shirt from scratch this is a good little modification. It will give your top a slight A line shape and I like it when turning a T into a low waisted play dress.

Now, when making this type of playdress I like the look of it being very low waisted  and the skirt ruffle starting a bit below the hip. You should measure your child before cutting your top pieces to make sure that the length of the top part is going to hit where you want. You may have to add a bit of length to your pattern piece or take a bit away.

This is how your piece will look all cut out. Now you will want to do the same thing with your back piece. This raglan pattern, the front and back pieces are the same, so I'm just going to cut out a second piece like this one.

If you are going to add any embellishments or appliques to the front of your top, you should do it before sewing it up. You don't have to, but it is easier. Don't you love this applique? The pattern came from the spring 2010 issue of Ottobre Magazine.

Now sew up your top following your pattern's directions, but do not hem the bottom.

Try the shirt portion on your child and measure from the bottom of the shirt to where you want the skirt to fall. Add 1 1/4 inches for hem and seam allowances.
Cut a piece of fabric for the skirt portion the full width of your knit by the length you just measured.

If using a 60 inch wide knit this width should be perfect for pretty much all little girl sizes. If looking for something more precise, a width that is about double the circumfrence of the bottom of your shirt would be perfect.

Taking your skirt piece, fold in half right sides together and sew down the short end creating a tube. You don't need to zig zag your edge as knits don't fray, I just do. Opposite this seam, sew down the fold so you will have side seams. If you don't want to you can skip that, but I like side seams.

Sew two rows of gathering stitches and gather to fit the bottom of your shirt. Attach skirt section (sorry no picture but check out the In The garden dress if you need more instruction on this).

Topstitch about 1/8 inch in on top portion.

Hem the bottom (1 inch hem). I like to do two rows of stitching along the bottom hems on knits.

Hoodie to playdress! What do you think? Add a pair of leggings or cute tights and you're set! One of the things I love most about making my own playdresses is being able to make matching leggings. With this dress I wanted to do polkadots but ran a couple of inches short. What a bummer!

Have you had a chance to click on the "Tutorials" tab at the top of the page? If not, go click. I finally got around to organizing everything there so it is easy for you to find that tutorial you are looking for. You'll be able to find this one there too shortly.
 I would love to see your play dresses! Don't forget to upload them to our Flickr Group! :)
If you haven't entered the Sweet Pea Pattern Giveaway yet, go enter before it's too late! :)