Roses and Ruffles- The T-shirt to Toddler Dress Tutorial

I decided to do another variation of the toddler t-shirt dress and also do an official how to make a toddler dress out of a t-shirt tutorial. There are many of these out there, but I wanted one to go with this. I was also asked on how to make the ruffles for the purple dress I did, so I have that included as well. And, I also did a quick how to on how to make these little hair bows with the leftovers. Have fun :)

What you need:
-T-shirt (mine came from the Dollar Store)

-Scissors
-Sewing machine, pins, all that stuff to sew it together
-Child's dress

Ring Around the Rosies Toddler Dress:
1. Lay out your t-shirt and fold it in half so that the front is facing you.

Lay the dress on it, also folded in half to find where you need to cut. If the dress is tight on child, try and allow a little extra room in the cut for a seam allowance. I try to make as little as possible for myself to do, so I always have the bottom of the dress on the bottom of the shirt. I didn't cut mine exactly this dress shape, but used it to find the basic shape I needed. Also, since my girl is tall enough now, I was able to line up the neck with it too, leaving the front already done for this one.

2. Cut out dress pieces.

3. Place the two pieces right sides together and pin in place.

4. Sew down the sides, making sure not to stitch where the arm holes are. You can finish them up if you would like to give it extra hold (I use a v-stitch and sew the inside edges together).

5. Sew the top of the shoulders together and finish seams. Turn right side out.

6. Optional: If you are blessed and have a serger, you can serge the edges. If you don't, you can use a v-stitch to finish the edges (if you have enough, fold the edges under a bit while sewing it. It looks smoother). Or, just leave them raw.

7. Cut the two sleeves off the part of the shirt that is left.

Cut in a little bit at the bottom of one sleeve and begin cutting the edges.

Continue in a circular motion all around the arm sleeve, as long as you can. I keep the width of the strips pretty thin, but you can do larger if you like.

The little piece on top is what I had left over.

8. Cut the two now long pieces in half. Three of the pieces will be used to make the roses. The other will be used to make the hair bows.

9. Start with the rose in the middle. Make a circle from the end part and pin in place.

Continue winding the piece in circles around until you reach the end.

Tuck the end underneath. Pin.

Beginning at the bottom, sew with a smaller stitch setting (the length on mine was 3.0). Make sure to backstitch a bit before and after sewing. Sew in circles around until you come to the middle. Backstitch when finished.

10. Do the same with the other two, placing them on opposite sides of the middle one.

Stitching from the back

Hair bows:
Take the long piece of leftover and cut in half.

Cut two small pieces from the other leftovers as well. You will need it to tie with. Wrap one of the halves around your hand.

Tie it in the middle with the small piece you cut.

Cut the loops on each end open and trim/pull the pieces until you achieve desired look. Sew them onto a hair clip.

Ruffles:
Make the dress the same way as in parts 1-6. I used a different dress to cut out the shape for this one. It was shorter and the neck was more of a scoop. Cut the long strips to ruffle from the sleeves, or any other way from the leftovers after cutting the shirt out. You want to cut five pieces. The middle will be the longest, the two beside it will be the same length (but shorter than the middle), and the last two on the outside will be even shorter.

There is no definite width or length. Just do it to your liking. Baste down the middle of each strip.

*If the fabric doesn't feed through well at the beginning, help it along by pulling the tail.*

This means, no backstitching at all. Leave a long tail at the beginning and the end. Make sure the stitch is set to a large width (I put mine at the highest, which is 5).

To create the ruffle, pull the bottom thread (this is the thread that came from the bobbin).

To help me out, I tie a knot at one end, and do the pulling from the other. It helps keep the ruffle in place for me. Then, pin the middle one on the shirt. Make sure it is directly in the middle of the shirt. Sew it on. Then, add on the two that go beside that, ending with the smallest ones beside those. I sewed them close together (I had to lift up the side of the one already sewn on so I wouldn't catch it in the stitch).