Recycle T-Shirts into Color Block Dress

I stumbled upon this pretty dress on pinterest and I absolutely love the colour block look.

Of course, the dress is stretch silk and costs well over $300 (you can find the dress here). I decide to make a recycled t-shirt version of my favourite dress using the color blocking idea.

I decided to document how I made the dress so that I can share it with you. It's been a while since I've done this, hasn't it?

Anyway, this is my favourite dress that I decided to base my dress on:

I have quite a few of my husband's old t-shirts that I can't really donate because of underarm stains caused by antit-perspirant. It's such a shame because the rest of the t-shirts are in such good condition.

So here's how I did it:

1) Fold t-shirt down the middle and flatten it as best as you can. Do the same thing with the original dress and place it on the t-shirt 

2) Use disappearing ink to carefully trace the dress bodice pattern directly onto the t-shirt. Notice I used the pin to mark on the dress, so that I know where the bodice ends.

3) This is how the pattern should look like. (Sorry about my ugly red dashed lines, I wanted to make it easier for you to see)

4) You'll end up with two pieces, the front and the back bodice. However, you'll still need to lower the neckline for the front bodice, as shown below:

5) Repeat for the middle block of the dress. The pin that you placed earlier will help you determine where the top of the block starts. Remember to mark the bottom of the block on your dress as well.

6) For the bottom block, I decided to keep the bottom hem of the t-shirt intact so that I don't have to hem the dress:

7) Repeat the same procedure for the bottom block. Notice I did not have quite enough fabric, but decided to go ahead anyway)

8) The 3 blocks laid out. You should have two of these, front and back.

9) You can go ahead and sew this, and make a sleeveless dress. You can leave the edges of the sleeves and neckline raw. Since jersey fabric doesn't fray, it will be fine. I decided to make sleeves for the dress using leftover scrap from the t-shirts.

Be sure to copy the arm-hole directly from the bodice by laying it on directly on the t-shirt. 

10) With the right sides together, sew the block pieces together. I used a serger, but you can use zig-zag stitch. Here's a really good video resource you can check out to help you sew knits without a serger.
You should end up with two pieces like this:

Place these two pieces right sides together, sew the shoulders, and then the sides.

11) Here's how it looks like. This is a good time to try out the dress.

12) To attach the sleeves, pin right sides together and sew.

13) To finish the collar, I decided to reuse the ribbing from one of the t-shirts. Cut out the ribbing and pin right sides together and sew. I was lucky enough the the ribbing fit the neckline perfectly, but you may have to adjust a little.

And you're done! (In my case, I had to iron the creases on the dress to make it presentable, but that was pretty much it)

Would you believe that I seem to have misplaced my tripod? It has been such a long time since I've taken self-portraits.

I did my best, with the help of mirrors and such.