Men’s Dress Shirts Into Wrap Dress/Tunic

I can’t believe it’s week 5 of Project Run & Play and the accompanying sew along!  The competitors are making amazing looks and it’s been so so fun to play along.  This week’s theme is the Men’s Dress Shirt challenge.

Lucky for me, hubby Dave has recently lost a significant amount of weight and no longer needs the second X in the XXL shirts he’s been wearing.  He’s 6’5″ so finding clothes to fit is a trying task at times.  I took a plain white shirt and this cool tone on tone paisley shirt as my volunteers for this week’s outfit.

I ended up getting a two-fer out of what I made.  In order to get all the pieces for the skirt out of the navy shirt, I had to shorten the pattern I drafted by about 3″.  This turned it into tunic length for Arden (but don’t tell her – she still thinks it’s a dress so she’ll wear it!).  Then I tried it on Hadley to see if it was a good fit for her and lo and behold it fit her just as well as a dress!  Love it!!

I drafted the pattern myself.  It has a fully lined bodice with pleats on the front shoulders.  I inserted piping into the seams on the top.  I have to say that adding piping to a seam with a gathered skirt is quite the test of patience!  I didn’t keep any elements of the shirts, but mimicked the shirttail hem on the dress’ skirt. The hem is faced and I used a double needle to add the line of yellow stitching to hold the facings in place.

I even ventured into the world of sewn button loops to hold the inside front in place and I’m very happy with how they turned out!  More buttons from the button jar wrapped everything up.  Now both girls can get wrapped up in Daddy’s shirts – like a little hug from Dad…

I’ll be linking up at the Project Run & Play sew along linky as well as many of these great parties:

Mondays Making the World Cuter Monday – Making the World Cuter Made By You Monday – Skip to My Lou Craftastic Monday – Sew Can Do FUNday Mondays – C.R.A.F.T. et al. Market Yourself Monday – Sumo’s Sweet Stuff Creative Me Monday – The Southern Institute Tuesdays I Made It Without My Hubby – Shanty 2 Chic Sew Cute Tuesdays – Better Off Thread Take a Look Tuesdays – Sugar Bee Craft Edition Shwin&Shwin Wednesdays We Did It Wednesdays – Sew Much Ado Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice – Seven Thirty Three Show & Tell – Blue Cricket Design Show Me What Ya Got – Not Just a Housewife Your Whims Wednesdays – My Girlish Whims Thursdays Strut-Your-Stuff – Somewhat Simple Make It, Wear It – The Train to Crazy It’s Stinkin’ Cute – Sew Stinkin’ Cute Show Off Your Stuff – Fireflies and Jellybeans Making It With Allie – What Allie’s Making Now Pinspirational Thursdays – The ArtsyGirl Connection Fridays Furniture Feature Friday – Miss Mustard Seed Weekend Wrap Up Party – Tatertots and Jello Feature Yourself Friday – Fingerprints on the Fridge Friday Fun Finds – KojoDesigns Weekends Check Me Out Saturday – A Vision to Remember Show and Tell Saturday – Be Different Act Normal Sunday Scoop – I Heart Naptime Sunday Showcase Party – Under the Table and Dreaming A Pinteresting Party – Tutus & Tea Parties Sunday Roundup – A Rosie Sweet Home Just Something I Whipped Up – Project Inspire