Dress to Collar Tie Shirt Tutorial

Matt loves to laugh at my "pioneer" dresses, his term for anything made before 2000. He thinks he is so witty and clever {and don't tell him I said this, but a lot of the time he actually is}, but "pioneer" dresses make the best projects and there are always a plethora at your nearest thrift store because...well, no one wants to look like a pioneer {or polygamist, as Matt also puts it, so kindly and politically correct}.

And speaking of pioneer dresses, here is one that I altered today, along with the tutorial for those who think it fits their style :) This alteration took about 1 hour and 30 minutes in total.

Here's what you start with...

And the prize you get in return!

So first things first:

1.  Cut the dress to make your top. Make sure you do not cut this too short, in fact, leave a little longer than desired because you are going to hem it after which will take up the length.

2.  Hem it. I also took up the sleeves because they were too long. You can choose to do this, or if you chose right, you might not have too. 

3.  Cut your collar and pocket {if you want the pocket}. This can be done with the left over fabric from the dress, or you can choose another fabric to contrast the look. That is what I chose with the stripes fabric.

The strip should be about 5 inches x 60 inches. If you would like to be able to tie it in a bow, instead of just hanging like I have, you should make it a little longer. 

4.  Fold the strip with face sides together and sew all the way down the length of the strip. 

5. Turn the strip inside out.

6.  Now fold the ends in making a slight slope so one side is longer than the other, and then sew it together. 

7.  Now you have your collar! Just iron it so it is flat and will make it easier to sew and will look nicer as your collar. 

Now the pocket:

8.  Bend the top part of the pocket down with face sides touching. 

9.  Fold it over again so that it makes a neat edge, and pin it so it stays while you sew the edges. 

10.  Turn the pocket over to the back side, bend the edges over, and sew them to make a nice and neat pocket from the front. 

11.  I sewed a button on mine, which I took from the left over part of the dress. 

12.  Then sew the pocket onto the shirt. 

13.  Now you are ready to sew the collar on. Place the face sides together and sew them together along the edge. 

Voila! You finished your very own tie collar shirt. Now you are style par with Anthro and Modcloth, congrats :)