I am rounding off KCW with a geranium dress! I’ve only made one of these so far (still not got around to blogging about it!) but it was made from an awful polyester, that was a nightmare to sew. A break from my usual eco-sewing, but it was a last minute (up til 3am sewing!) dress for Lily to wear for Chinese New Year at her school.
I had this really great shirt in my upcycling box and I was wondering what to make with it, I thought possibly a pair of coastal cargos, but I have been really lacking time this KCW, so I decided to stick with a pattern I knew. I also liked the idea of having a button up geranium dress.
I used the button up part of the shirt for the back and I kept the original hem of the shirt, for ease. As you can see in this picture, I created a single pattern piece for the back. I overlapped the back bodice pattern piece with the back skirt and I trimmed off the excess. I attempted to centre the pattern piece on the centre of the buttons but I don’t think it quite lined up… ah well! You can just see the contrast fabric on the inside of the pockets in this photo too. I found myself repinning these pockets about four times, as I had a mental block, which way round they needed to be attached to the dress. I actually had it right the first time, annoyingly!
For the front, I used an off cut of my organic voile in paisley print (should be back in stock in the near future), which is also a little throw back to my own long-sleeved organic voile washi dress. I didn’t have quite enough width of shirt for the full skirt, so I took some of the edge and then only used one pleat either side of the centre line. It’s also possible that I sewed the pleats to the wrong side, so they are facing out instead! I love the slimmer sillhouette that the pattern adaptation has produced. It also ended up being slightly longer than usual, due to my winging my adjustments!
I did line the bodice (front and partial back) with undyed organic cotton batiste. I completely forgot that I would need access to the button holes on one of the back bodice pieces. I have to say that there are some really dicey buttonholes, going on in the lining!!
I found the 4T didn’t leave much room for growth, in the other geranium, so I made a 5T this time around. Thankfully there was still lots of ease in the dress for Lily to run and play!
You know I used my overlocker as much as I could for this project too, right? I swapped back to the natural coloured organic cotton sewing thread of course! I was a bit worried about my fabric choices, as the voile and batiste has an undyed base, where as the shirt has a white base, but I think I got away with it!
Wow! Love this!…I love the buttons up the back idea!! And, it was likely easier than the way i did it 😉 I’ll have to give this way a try next time!
I thought it would be easier, but it definitely caused a few problems 😉 great minds on the upcycling shirt into geranium dress though
Love-love-love! I especially love the front of the men’s shirt as the back of the dress.
this is so adorable and brilliant to use a man’s shirt. i have about 50 in my husband’s closet… may have to hack one up!
You should! Men’s shirts are sooooo useful! I find myself saying to my husband… “soooo that shirt is really old isn’t it..” *crafty glint in eye!*
nice…I like upcycling… this is super