Arwen's Blank Canvas Dress

No, the dress isn't made of canvas.

It's what we made yesterday so she can take fabric paint and add "hearts and stars and rainbows with glitter" everywhere. 

This project worked great as an introduction to sewing.  No hemming!  (Just use the hem from one of the T-shirts.)  If you try it with a sewing machine instead of a serger, you'll want to reinforce the stitching.  My niece is nine, and it moved quickly enough to keep her interested.

Here's the process.

We were originally going to make it longer, so I had three men's T-shirts to add to the bottom of one girl's T-shirt that fit her.  We ended up using two T-shirts, one child-sized and one large adult.

Note that the shirt is pinned to keep both sides where we want them when cutting.

 Hmmm.... how to make these two fit together?  Cutting the 'skirt' is much easier than gathering it.   Just be sure to be symmetrical if you want it to drape right.  Cut EXACTLY the same amount on both sides, and include your seam allowances in your calculations.

A stain? No problem-- Make the outside of the T-shirt the inside of the dress. 
(Plus we're going to cover everything in glitter paint, remember?)

She cut the hem off before pinning the two halves together.

 I did most of the serging, although she did do a couple of inches.  (That is, after I explained very clearly that the little blade would slice her fingernail in two if she didn't pay attention.  She paid attention.)

Ta Da!   

Next up: Embellishing.....