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refashion sewing sewing for kids

tulle sweatshirt dress | easy sewing tutorial

Every once in a while I peruse the kids section at J. Crew to get sewing ideas. I’m not likely to spend $40 on a sweater or $70 on a dress for my six-year-old, but I do love the look of their clothes. I especially liked this tulle skirted sweatshirt dress I saw recently and decided to figure out how to make something similar for my daughter. I started with a $5 clearance sweatshirt from Target and added a skirt for an easy tulle sweatshirt dress that didn’t cost anywhere near 70 bucks.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

I put it together while my daughter was at kindergarten one day, and she was thrilled to try it on when she got home.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

She loves wearing dresses, and I love outfits that are casual enough for her to be comfortable in. And easy for me to wash!

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

With this dress, everyone’s happy.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Here’s how I made it. I started with a sweatshirt, 1/2 a yard of inexpensive knit fabric, and 1 full yard of English tulle (also called English net or English netting). English net is MUCH softer than the cheap tulle you’ll find at craft or fabric stores. It hangs nicely and doesn’t get bunched up when you use multiple layers of it. So far it’s washing up well too. I ordered this English net on Etsy, because my local fabric store doesn’t sell it. If you’re making a dress for a taller girl than a size 6, you’ll need more than 1 yard of net or tulle.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

I started by having my daughter try on the sweatshirt and measuring from the hem seam down to the middle of her knee. That was 11 inches. I added 1 inch to account for the hem, making the length I’m using for the skirt pieces 12 inches.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

I also measured the width of the sweatshirt at the hemline. I used the 1/2 yard of knit fabric to create an underskirt. I cut two underskirt pieces: they are each 12 inches long, and as wide at the top as the sweatshirt is at the hem, + 1 inch for seam allowance. I angled out the sides slightly so the bottom of the underskirt is a couple inches wider than the top, to allow for easier movement.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Lay the underskirt pieces right sides together and sew down each side using 1/2 inch seam allowance, as shown above. Also, turn up the bottom of the underskirt and hem.

Next, you’ll use the English net to create 3 layers of overskirt. The net I used came 60 inches wide, so I cut 3 panels that were each 12 inches tall by the full 60 inches wide. Sewing each panel separately, fold it in half so the selvedge edges meet and sew them together, then press the seam allowance to one side.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

When sewing on tulle or english net you’ll want to go slowly and lower your machine tension a bit. I even had to pull the net a smidge as I sewed it so that it didn’t get bunched up in my machine.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll have one underskirt and three overskirt layers. Slide the overskirt layers inside of each other and pin them together all along the top to secure them together.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Now we need to gather the top of the overskirts until they are the same width as the underskirt. So sew a gathering stitch (long stitch length and low stitch tension) all the way around the top of the overskirts (through all three at once), about half and inch from the edge. Pull on the bobbin thread to gather up the top of the overskirt until it is the same width as the underskirt, distributing the gathers evenly. Place the underskirt, right side out, inside the overskirts, also right side out, and pin the together at the top as shown:

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Then sew all the way around the top with a stitch that has some stretch, like a zig zag. I used a serger, which is the best option if you have one because it makes the edge very tidy.

Now you have a finished skirt, and you just need to attach it to the sweatshirt. Slide the skirt inside the sweatshirt as shown, pinning the top edge of the skirt to the hemline of the sweatshirt.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Sew the skirt to the sweatshirt. You can either use a machine stitch right over the hemstitching, or you can hand sew it inside the sweatshirt, which is what I did:

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

Finished! Because I hemmed the underskirt and not the overskirt, the tulle/net layer is a bit longer than the underskirt. I like how that looks, but you could certainly trim it up if you’d prefer.

Add a pretty tulle skirt to a storebought sweatshirt for an adorable little girl's dress. How to sew a girls dress. Easy sewing tutorial.

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Comments

  1. Kristie says

    January 23, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    I have a 7 year old who would love this. And a niece who would as well. Thanks for sharing your how to. Such a cute idea!

    Reply
  2. Lee Orlian says

    January 26, 2017 at 11:59 am

    This is so cute! I like how you made the tulle/net layer a bit longer than the underskirt. It’s a fun little detail that makes the dress look amazing!

    Reply
  3. Natalia says

    January 26, 2017 at 1:55 pm

    Thank you for the idea! Maybe I have a bad luck with tulle, but it always rises and gets stuck wrong and the layers get messed very soon. Am I have just a bad tulle? It is very soft but appeared to be sadly shapeless as skirt:( Did you ever had similar experience and what was your solution? Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Anne says

    January 29, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    Turned out so cute! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for tomorrow morning that features your tutorial: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/?p=91483 –Anne

    Reply
  5. Mary D. says

    September 24, 2018 at 9:18 am

    This is so cute! It reminds me of a dress my sister-in-law made for me years ago. It was made from 2 sweatshirts. The top part was a whole sweatshirt. The bottom skirt part was cut from the 2nd sweat shirt under the arm, and this part was sewn along the hem of the top shirt where the top is sewn to the band (like you did for the tulle skirt). It makes a drop waist style dress that comes out about knee length.

    Reply
    • Lisa T says

      June 22, 2019 at 4:37 pm

      I did the same, with 2 tee shirts. My daughter was doubly excited. Because she got a cropped top, from the remains, of the 2nd.

      Reply
  6. Deborah says

    November 26, 2019 at 7:13 pm

    Wow! I know my daughters will love this, thank you for sharing!

    Reply

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I'm Autumn, a mom of five who loves ice cream, Masterpiece Theatre, and clothes that hide the fact that I eat so much ice cream. When I was 18 I got a job at a craft store and told everyone (regularly) how much I hated crafts. Well, things change! Read More…

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