Inspired

Ok, so, of course, I was blog hopping the other day. I mean, what else do I have to do? Right? Just kidding. But, I was checking one of my favorite sites, One Pretty Thing, and I saw a project by a girl named Natalie, and I thought, "I can do that!" {Watch her video. She tells exactly how she made the dress, and that's pretty much what I did as well :}

So, anyways, I went to the thrift store, picked up three t-shirts from the men's section, just to make sure they would be big enough. I picked out shirts that were on sale, so I spent a little over $2 for all three.

Like Natalie, I got one black, one orange, and one red. I turned all the shirts inside out, since there was some writing on the fronts.

Next, I cut the sleeves off the black shirt, and sliced off the arms.

I cut it into various sized strips. I also did this with the orange and red shirts.

Then, I laid them out, in a semi-random pattern, mixing color and size of strips.

I also cut up the side of each strip on both sides to make two strips.

Finally, I was ready to start sewing. Just a straight stitch to attach the pieces together. Since the top piece (with the neck hole) is together, it gave me a good top piece. I sewed a front strip and then a back strip, that way the color/size strips would match up when I sewed together.

It was a LOT of sewing!

Once it was all sewed together, and it was as long as I wanted it, I had to press all those seams. I didn't count them, but that's a WHOLE lot of seams! Whew!

Next, I laid it out and folded in half. This was tricky, because I needed four layers to line up. Once it was nearly lined up perfectly, I laid a tank top on top and used it to trace the outline I wanted. I wish I would have given myself a larger seam allowance--I always underestimate. I thought I was giving a 1/4 inch, but it was probably more like 1/8, so the dress ended up a little tight.

The fun part was cutting away the extra fabric.

Now, it was just a matter of sewing a straight stitch up the sides...after I had to use my seam ripper to undo the seam I had accidentally sewn on the arm hole....don't sew up the arm hole! Just sew the sides!

I decided that I liked the length of the dress, and I didn't need the extra flair that Natalie's dress had, so I just hemmed the bottom, as well as the neck/back and straps.  Finally, I put the dress on:

Add some heels, and viola'! A cute dress, made out of old t-shirts. Who would have thought? :)
I must say, that's the most sewing I've done at one time. By the time I got through those seams, my back was sore, and my eyes were strained. I think I sewed pretty much continuously from 3 pm to 8 pm, with a short dinner break. Oh, and a break for when I was pressing those seams, but that's a whole different kind of torture, you know what I mean? :)

Well, as I'm writing this, it is after 11pm on Saturday night. Matt has to work the AM shift (11pm to 7am) starting tomorrow night, and so we're trying to rearrange our sleep schedule. I'm trying to stay up as late as humanly possible, but my body is already telling me that it is time to go to bed. So... wish me luck! I'll need it :) Maybe I'll get inspired again and start a new project tonight...hmm...we'll see!

~Pam