good morning! i turned a men's shirt into a cute two piece for eddie the other day and it turned out super cute so here is a super simple tutorial! originally i started with this cool black and teal scribble-patterned shirt and cut it up into the sweetest little outfit for edison. At first I wasn't sure if she would like it but she's super into cropped shirts and skirts lately so she ended up wearing it for three days!


for the tutorial i used this rad aztec-inspired print shirt i bought from the op shop years ago for tim and he wore like, once. Eddie loved this set too, but we gifted it to her cousin Ruby so they could have some matchy machy fun!




it's a super sweet little set, easy for her to dress herself in fun to show off those still toddler bellies! She's four, she's in kindy next year (!) but she totally still has that delicious bubby body where everything his chunky and yummy.


her hat is from an op shop that she refused to wear for about two years and as I was going to re-donate it back to lifeline she suddenly decided she wanted it! classic edison. her boots are from target!

You will need:
a men's button up shirt!
elastic (enough for the waist of the child you're making this for)
that's legit it

are you ready?




Cut the sleeves off your shirt! you can unpick them if you want but i just hacked them off (the seam stayed on the sleeve so i didn't have bulk to work with on the shirt part)


Figure out how long you want your skirt to be! Add about 4-5 seam allowance on the top depending on how thick your elastic is. I used quite wide elastic but you can make a smaller seam allowance if your elastic is thinner! Eddie's skirt is about 10.5 inches. Cut a straight line across the top!


Skirt

If you don't want the skirt coming unbuttoned during wear, sew a line down the placket there over one of the existing seam lines. Overlock around the top of the shirt (it should be a loop!)


Measure some elastic around your child's waist, overlap the ends and stitch them together so the elastic forms a loop. Now stitch the join of the elastic to a side-seam of your skirt, affixing it with a few stitches so that it won't twist or move when the skirt is being worn!


Fold over the top edge of the skirt so it covers the elastic and gives you a bit of seam allowance too. Pin it!


Pin the opposite side of the elastic to the opposite side seam and then pin all around the waistband of the skirt that it's even. Stitch along your seam allowance!


have your cute four year old assistant take a photo of the skirt because it's already done! (i wasn't playing when i said this was a super easy sew!)



Top
The cropped top keeps the original shoulder seams and collar of the shirt and is pretty much only cropped depending on how big your child is. You could honestly crop it even shorter if you wanted. Cut up the seam allowances of the shirt to make it easier for you to wrangle the fabric around:


I used the bodice of some pattern that i knew fit eddie well, but you can use a shirt that your child has. I traced around just the front on one side and cut it out. Then i laid it over the other side of the shirt and cut out an identical one. I kept the shoulder seams intact on the original shirt.


 A+ photoshop skills there. Place the fronts down over the back like it's a normal shirt and cut the back to match the front. Since this shirt is sleeveless, if you haven't used a sleeveless bodice to trace around you're going to want to lower the armholes about 1-2 cm.


Stitch up those sideseams and hem.




Armholes
So we are going to bind the armholes so they look nice and neat! You can use bias binding if you'd like, which will sit a little better because (obviously) the binding is cut on the bias so it will curve nicely in the armhole. HOWEVER in the spirit of upcycling and having everything match so nice, using some scraps from the shirt will do in a pinch. You can make you're own bias binding from parts of the shirt if you have enough, you you can cut some strips from one of the sleeves like i did (and honestly it's such a small opening it really, really doesn't matter if it's on the bias or not)




I cut two strips out from the sleeve, about 2-3cm wide, and then i measured the circumference of the arm scye of the little shirt. Add two cm for seam allowance and you have the length you need for your bindings! I sewed them right sides together in the picture below so you have two loops.


Pin a loop right side together against the arm scye. It should fit perfectly!


Stitch it with a one cm seam allowance and then trim it right back so you're reducing the bulk there.


I folded over the other edge of the loop one cm and pressed it:


then fold that over so it covers your seam you've just done and pin it! Now stitch it down and do the same for the other armhole






Please link me if you use this tutorial to make something for your little ones!! I would love to see





Vincent's shirt & short set is here