How to Sew a Strapless Dress

Transform old T-shirts into a strapless dress.

Recycling and transforming clothes from your closet or clothes picked up secondhand at thrift stores can provide you with an inexpensive and fashionable wardrobe. Sew a strapless dress using a collection of shapeless T-shirts that are too big for current fashion styles. Plain or printed T-shirts can be used to create a one-of-a-kind strapless T-shirt dress. This dress is cool in the summer and can be worn with a jacket over it, or wear it with tights or jeans in the fall.

Things You'll Need

• 3 T-shirts, two sizes larger than your current size
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Marking pen
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Iron
• 5/8-inch wide elastic
• Safety pin

Instructions

1. Lay one T-shirt flat on your work surface, matching the front hem with the back hem. Cut off the hem above the seam, cutting through both layers of the shirt. Repeat on the other two T-shirts.

2. Measure up 12 inches from the cut edge and mark a line across the shirt's width. Cut along the line through both layers of the shirt. Repeat on the other two T-shirts. You now have three 12-inch wide rings. When sewn together, the dress will hang to the knees on an average size woman.

3. Lay the cut rings flat on your work surface in three rows. The top row is the top of the dress. If your T-shirt rings are different colors, arrange them in a striped pattern of your choice.

4. Turn the middle ring wrong side out. Slip the middle ring around the bottom ring. Pin the top edge of the bottom ring and the bottom edge of the middle ring together, all the way around the ring.

5. Sew the pinned edge using a 1/4-seam allowance. Flip the middle ring up, turning it right side out. Turn the top ring wrong side out and slip it over the middle ring. Pin and stitch together the edges in the same way as the previous rings. You now have a long three-striped tube.

6. Turn the tube wrong side out. Fold the top of the tube 1 inch to the wrong side, press and pin. Sew a zigzag stitch on the pinned raw edge to create a casing. Leave a 2-inch opening on the casing.

7. Measure around your body, above your bust and subtract 1 inch. Cut a length of 5/8-inch wide elastic using this measurement. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic. Using the safety pin as a guide, thread the elastic through the opening in the casing and all the way around the tube. Bring the safety pin out through the opening and remove it.

8. Overlap the ends of the elastic an inch and pin. Sew across the elastic to connect the ends. Slide the stitched ends inside the casing. Zigzag stitch the opening closed.

9. Turn the tube over. Fold the bottom of the tube 1/4 inch to the wrong side, press and pin. Sew a zigzag stitch on the pinned raw edge to complete the hem. Turn the strapless dress right side out.

Tips & Warnings

• It is easy to tell which side of each T-shirt is the right side if it has a logo or print on it. If there is no logo, both sides will be the same and you will need to determine which will be the right side and which will be the wrong side.

• Most T-shirts do not have vertical side seams. If your shirts do have side seams, line them up before stitching the rings together.