Thrifty T's

Happy Labor Day Weekend :) This weekend is a holiday in the US and so we have a nice long weekend to celebrate our labors -- by doing nothing. I enjoy it :)

It's also a big weekend in Syracuse, where I live. Around these parts, Syracuse University sports reign and yesterday was the season opener of football. Back in the day, we (as in Syracuse University) were "da bomb" at football - football legends such as Jim Brown and Ernie Davis took over the field. Now... well, not so much. Things aren't going well for Syracuse University, but that doesn't stop my husband, an alumni, and me from being orange-blooded fans. So, in Syracuse Orange spirit, I wanted to create a dress using the SU colors while rooting on my team.

Who would have thought finding an orange dress at the thrift store was so hard? But I didn't let it get me down - this is what I chose.

That's right - two t-shirts! I must be out of my mind, right? Well... only a  little. These were a steal though. Both were white tags, which conveniently were 50% off the day I bought them, so I got the blue Aruba shirt for $1 and the orange shirt for $1.50. A $2.50 dress was certainly looking good for my budget!

The first thing I did was cut off the top of the blue shirt where the Aruba picture was.

Next, I took the remaining tube of blue fabric and matched it up to the bottom of the orange shirt and cut it roughly the same size. I made sure to cut on the seam so when I sewed it back up the seams would all match. I also learned my lesson and left a seam allowance so I didn't end up making it too small when it was ultimately sewn up.

Then it was to the sewing machine to sew up the cut and make it back into my tube. I did mess up a bit here. I used a short straight stitch that bunched the fabric up like crazy. I didn't rip it out because I had places to be, people to see. I struck it lucky because it actually worked out to be unnoticeable. In any other case, though, I would have ripped it all out and re-sewn it with a longer zig-zag stitch.

After this, it was just a matter of putting the blue tube around the bottom of the shirt, inside out and upside down (with the orange shirt right side out) and sewed around the bottom. I made sure this time to use long zig-zag stitches, then went around a second time with short zig-zag stitches. This kept it from bunching but it was stretchy enough that I wouldn't blow our the seams when I put on the dress. when the bottom was all sewn, I just pulled the tube down at that point and I had my SU themed dress!

Let me tell you - this is possibly the most comfortable dress I have ever worn; probably because it was made from two super comfy cotton t-shirts. It was also a hem-free project, as the bottom of the blue shirt is the bottom of the dress. I highly recommend making a t-shirt dress. I also made sure to make it a bit longer, so when I get all jumpy and nuts while cheering on my team I don't get all R-rated in the crowd too.

 

However, when the game is over and we are hopefully celebrating a win, I can jack it up for a night on the town celebrating.

As always, feel free to comment below or shoot me an e-mail at thriftysew@gmail.com :)

 

Enjoy your holiday (and your football!)