Shirts to tank refashion/revamp to revamping a revamp into skirts for my daughter

Before...

I don't even know where to start trying to write a tutorial for this... I was attempting to make what I thought was going to be the cutest dress I've made so far. Cut the sleeves off both shirts, then cut the cuffs off & cut the bottom seams of the sleeves to open them up... Put the sleeves of the flowered shirt together, right sides facing & cut the bodice pieces out of it. Did the sleeves of the gingham shirt the same way & cut the midriff pieces out of it... Cut the flowered shirt straight across below the 2nd or 3rd button, right at the point where it fit me under the midriff. This is the pattern I used for the bodice & midriff...

I got the top of the bodice done & started working on the midriff part, got it almost done (or so I thought) & realized I'd sewn it backwards... Needless to say, I absolutely hate my seam ripper, even though it's an ergonomically friendly, nice one, it doesn't matter, I still hate it. So I tossed the midriff to the side & thought I'd do something different... At this point I changed my mind to turn it into a tank top instead of a dress. Cut the flowered shirt below the pocket, tried it on, fit it to me (or so I thought) & sewed it up without the midriff. Cut off the excess, tried it on again, wrangled my boobs to get them in it & umm, nope, I can't breathe. Thought I was going to have to cut it off me after I 'bout pulled my shoulders out of socket... Threw it to the side & said, "F*@# it! I'm done sewing for the day!"  

Then the next day... I'm looking at it & thinking what can I do to salvage it? I got my seam ripper, ripped open the midriff part I sewed backwards, resewed the frickin' gathers & sewed it correctly. 

Ripped the bodice off & the seams up the side of the bottom to the point where I could breathe when I put it on. Folded the seam allowance over & hemmed the sides to make splits. OK, YAY, go me, I think this is going to work... Sewed the bodice to the midriff, then to the bottom, tried it on & the midriff was too tight, UGH!!! Tore it all apart again, took a strip of the gingham fabric & sewed it to the bodice, then to the bottom, made some straps from the leftover gingham shirt sleeves & YAY, with a lace trimmed cami, it's wearable...

                                        

                                   

Please bear with me ya' all while I try to improve my tutorial writing skills, I promise I'll work on it...

UPDATE:

I never could get this tank to fit the way I wanted so I tore it all apart, revamped a revamp & made these adorable skirts for my daughter...

Janeya's Hello Kitty dress

Not a revamp, I caught this material on clearance & Janeya loves Hello Kitty, so Mommy had to make her a new dress...

Another shirt to dress revamp

Before - Once again... Sorry didn't get the 

before pic until it was cut up...

After - Now one of my favorite dresses...

2 men's dress shirts to a cute little sundress

Before - 2 men's button up dress shirts (sorry didn't get the before pic until the 2 shirts were cut up.) I cut the sleeves off both shirts, cut the cuffs off (I always seem to think I'm going to use them somehow & never do) & then cut the bottom seam of the sleeves to open them up. I laid the red plaid shirt out & cut it straight across at the point where it fit around my midriff. (You can see the top yoke & collar that I cut off in the pic.) I can't remember if I used the white sleeves or if I folded the back of the white shirt in 1/2 to get the material for the bodice, I think I used the white sleeves as a bodice liner for one of my other dresses. It doesn't matter either way as long as you can come up with enough material to cut out the pieces you need, I've even folded up the bottoms of the shirt front to get the material I needed. If I used the sleeves, I put them together, right sides facing & pinned the bodice pattern pieces to it, then cut them out... If I used the shirt, I just folded the back in 1/2, right sides facing, pinned the pieces to it & cut it out... Cut 4 pieces of the red plaid shirt in 1" wide, long strips, sewed 2 of them end to end to get the length of the strap I needed, then sewed the other 2 end to end for the 2nd strap. Folded 1 in 1/2, right sides facing, seamed the length of it, turned it right side out with a safety pin, did the 2nd one the same way & made the spaghetti straps...

I used this pattern (the one on the left) to make the bodice out of the white shirt material... Then I seamed the sides of the red plaid shirt bottom to fit my waist & hips. 

Lined up the middle of the bodice with the buttons on the shirt, right sides facing & pinned the bodice to it, sewed it together. Then sewed the straps at the back & used a safety pin to run the straps through the casing at the top of the bodice, adjusted the straps to fit, tied a bow & here's the after pic of my cute, lil' sundress...

Refashioned/Recycled dress for a dime

I picked this shirt up for a dime at my local Sr. Citizen's Thrift Store. I finally got around to digging through my attic in the 5 totes of (do something with later) clothes I had stashed from hitting sales like that... This is my 1st attempt at turning a men's dress shirt into a dress... I cut the sleeves off, then cut straight across under the second button & seamed the sides to fit me. Then, I put the sleeves together, right side facing & pinned a simple bodice pattern to it. I was super excited to find out there was enough material in the sleeves to be able to do that. I used another shirt that matched to make the bodice lining & straps, sewed the bodice & straps & sewed it to the skirt. YAY, I have a new dress for a dime!

My DIY Elegant Redneck Wedding

Before ~ I was preparing for my wedding, my Aunt Mary gave me her 35 yr. old wedding dress & told me, "It's yours, do whatever you want with it." Thank you Aunt Mary! I had a really hard time with the thought of deconstructing it, this was a $400 dress in 1978, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL & fabulously vintage, I hadn't sewn since I was in high school, I'm a newbie at deconstructing & reconstructing & the thought of ruining it just absolutely broke my heart. 

 Then I tried it on & realized she was about 100 lbs. when she wore this dress, I don't even remember being 100 lbs. It's beautiful, but not exactly my kind of style. And it dawned on me... Do I want this dress to continue to yellow, get fragile & eventually fall apart in a box where all it will do is take up space & never be used in all of it's glory? My answer was, Hell NO, I have enough stuff in storage!!! 

 I used Rit Fabric Whitener trying to get the yellow out, wasn't white enough to my liking so I used bleach. I figured if it fell apart I might still be able to use the lace for decorations if all else failed... It whitened up some, I managed to get the yellow out & it didn't fall apart, YAY!!! So, I got out the seam ripper & as carefully as possible I ripped it apart... 

 Around our parts we're proud to be Hick Chic Rednecks, I knew I wanted a Redneck theme with camo dresses... I laid the pieces of her dress on my Realtree AP camo material that took me FOREVER to find & almost cried at how beautifully it went together. I changed my theme to Elegant Redneck...

After trying the bodice on my Baby Girl/Flower Girl, Janeya, I decided it should be on her dress... 

Flipped the bottom piece of the bodice upside down & used it as the waistband. Ripped the wide lace that wrapped around the entire bottom of the train off my aunt's dress & used it as the bottom lace trim of my niece, Maranda's Jr. Bridesmaid dress. 

 Maid of Honor & Bridesmaid dress waist ribbons were the long strips of lace that ran the length of the train, every few inches apart. I had A LOT of this lace...

Used a scrap of the wide lace, flipped upside down to doll up the neckline of my dress & covered the straps with the long strips of lace I had a lot of. Restrung my Grandma's old pearls & used a few of them to put in the flowers of the lace to doll it up a bit more...

Made matching $1 flip flops for all 6 of us girls by gluing the lace over the straps...

Here's a pic of the wedding party... My Best Friend, Jane made her own dress & Janeya's dress. Thank you Jane! I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to say the least... I made the other 4 dresses, my husband's vest & all the ties... This was the 2nd wedding dress I made a week before the wedding because I gained some weight & the 1st dress no longer fit. The underlay of my dress is the train overlay of my aunt's dress. I turned it into a skirt so I could just slip it off when the party started... Cut her cathedral length veil off, made a camo ribbon & trimmed it. 

My sister & Maid of Honor, Lori... 

My best friend & Bridesmaid, Jane...

My newly inherited children, 

Best Man & Bridesmaid, Devin & Nicci...

My sons & Groomsmen, Austin & Dylan

 walking me down the aisle...

Husband & Wife, FINALLY!!! I've been in love with Beez (Brian) since I was 12 years old... Waited 25 years, hoping & praying for him to come back to me & it finally happened... This truly was my dream come true! My uncle, Calvin carved the buttons for Beez's vest out of deer antlers & carved wooden, morel mushroom tie tacks for the guy's ties... My cousin, Tiffany used scraps of camo fabric to make my flowers. Thank you so much Uncle Calvin & Tiff! 

 Beautiful, baby girl, Janeya...

High-Low Wedding Dress

Old stained, too small shirt to lil' girls dress

Before...

After...

Shirt Revamp

Before...

Cut the sleeves off...

Cut the very top & collar off in a shape like this...

Cut the collar where it meets the top of the shirt... Cut the collar in 1/2 & fold over the neckline...

Cut the button part, arrow shaped part of the sleeves to make the straps... And here's the after shot of it all sewed together...

1st ever attempt at refashioning...

Before... Just a button up shirt

After... A cute summer shirt