What To Do With A T-Shirt?

So.... What do you do with an old t-shirt?

Well yesterday I tried out a few answers to that question. I actually purchased a few shirts at Goodwill since we don't have any ready to retire quite yet. First up... a newborn gown.

I found the tutorial and patterns over at This Mama Makes Stuff, click here to go right to the pattern. I came across this in my web browsing the other day and thought they were too cute to pass up. Now having never sewn a piece of clothing I was a bit intimidated. I have had new found confidence with sewing lately after my appliques and the baby doll diapers I made. Since the shirt cost me $1.50 I figured I really have nothing to lose, it seemed pretty uncomplicated.

Turns out it wasn't very difficult at all. It was time consuming for me probably because I haven't sewn much other than straight lines and this had hems and zig-zag stitch and elastic. I did make a few modifications to the sleeves, I made it about 3/4 length sleeves and made them smaller. They were quite wide the first time I sewed them. It is far from perfect, I need a little more practice with the zig-zag and also the underarms gathered a bit and I can't figure out why. Inside out they are flat but when I flip it the kinda bunch, more practice and I will probably figure that out too.

All in all I am shocked and quite proud of myself that I MADE THIS!! My little girl will definitely be getting lots of use out of it and it was easy enough I may make more. And I must say it came out quite well!! Check it out below.


After having much success with this I went on to my next task, making pants for my son with an adult t-shirt. Basically I did this by taking a pair of his pants that fit well and folding them in half. Then I traced around the pants lining the outside of the leg on the edge of the paper. This is where your fold would be. I drew another line allowing for a 1/4" seam allowance and then cut out. Anyway I don't feel like going into every detail here, nor did I take any pictures of the process but if you would like a great tutorial on this click HERE.

I can't believe how easy these were to make. I am certainly going to make many more pairs of these for both my son and daughter and perhaps some for gifts as well. I will also keep my eye open at the fabric store because you could make these using any fabric. Not to mention the fact you can make shorts just as easily by just making them shorter!


Last I just wanted to post a picture of the baby doll diapers I made. These were super simple and I ended up making 4 of them so we should be set for a while!