How to Make a Halter Neck Dress from a Man's Shirt

How to make a halter neck dress from a man’s shirt

YOU WILL NEED DIFFICULTY

A man’s shirt Scissors Sewing thread in a Pins ADVANCED colour to match the Long ruler shirt Sewing machine Tailor’s chalk - for marking, cutting and Iron and ironing board sewing lines

METHOD

DE-CONSTRUCTING THE SHIRT 4

Unpick the collar and remove the loose threads. Cut along the front yoke seams, removing the front sections.

2 5

Cut up the side seams to the armholes. Fold the back shirt section in half then lay it flat on a table. 3

Cut around the entire armhole in a circle, removing the sleeve intact.

Repeat for the other sleeve.

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Re-shape the back neck line – this will become the new Cut along both lines you’ve drawn in Steps 9 and 10, front neck. through both layers of fabric.

On the centre fold-line, mark 3cm down from the current This will become the dress front. neck line then draw in a new curved line from that point to the top neck point. 12

7 Lay the shirt-front sections right sides together, matching the placket edges. Remember to do the buttons up.

Cut along the line you’ve just drawn - through both layers of fabric - to remove the excess fabric. Draw a diagonal line from the second button down (from the top neck) to the underarm position, then cut along 8 this line.

Cut a small notch 0.5cm deep in the centre of the neck hole. This will become the sides and back of the dress.

9 14

Draw a diagonal line from the top neck point to about 3cm in Lay the sleeves out flat, using the original underarm seam from the underarm seam. On our shirt this was 34cm long, as a guide. but this measurement will vary according to the shirt size. Place the two sleeves right sides together, matching the underarm seams. 10 15

Draw another diagonal line, from the end of the line you’ve just drawn (by the underarm seam) towards the hem. Draw, and then cut, a diagonal line from the underarm This will maximise the width of the material by the hem. to the centre fold, removing the sleeve head shaping and creating a point.

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Overlock or zig-zag all of the raw edges of the dress’s front and back sections.

Stitch the unhemmed sections of the fronts to the back from the underarm down.

On the straight side edge of each front dress section, do a Top-stitch the seams and hem the lower sides of the back narrow single turn to the wrong side of the fabric. section.

Then do a straight machine stitch on top of the 8 overlocking stitch to create a narrow single hem. Place the dress onto a tailor’s dummy or a body. 3 Fasten the neck/collar button at the back of the neck. Do a narrow single hem along the diagonal edges of the Wrap the sides around to the back and do up the buttons - back dress, nearest to the neck hole. the buttons may need to be moved.

4 9

Working from the centre outwards, re-attach one layer of Lift and pin the lower sections (which were the side fronts) the collar to the neck hole, matching the central notches. on to what were the lower side backs at the side seam. The easiest way to do this is to attach the single layer of This will fill in the gap at the sides and create a draping fabric that doesn’t have the interfacing on. bustle effect. Repeat on the other side of the collar. 10 5 Machine-stitch in place at the sides. Re-close the collar by using a straight stitch to edge-stitch the two collar edges together.

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Place both sleeves together, undo the cuff button on one of the sleeves and put your arm inside.

With your fingers, pinch the under arm seams of the sleeves together and turn inside out so that one sleeve is inside the other. Place the belt on the dress and tie the ends in a knot at 2 the back.

Pin around the circumference of the top of the sleeves, matching the underarm seam.

Using a 1cm seam, stitch sleeves together in a circle, pivoting at the pointed area.

Turn back the right way out.

Treating both layers of fabric as one, create three pleats centrally on the seam you’ve just sewn. Then stitch them down through all the layers - this will make the sleeves look a bit like a cummerbund.

Press the dress.