UPCYCLING PDF PATTERN [Shirt to Dress]

Hi All, 

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me huh? SURPRISE! I’m back on the blog with something exciting to share. I’ve published my second pattern the UPCYCLED PDF PATTERN SHIRT TO DRESS – complete with a step by step tutorial that includes a bonus tutorial teaching you how to add an overlay to your dress/top. 

Exciting stuff right?! It’s been a long time coming (6 years to be exact!) However, before I go into the details of the pattern, I’d first like to tell you why, after all this time, I’ve decided to publish it. I’ve been sitting on this pattern for a long while, but the world has been burning, flooding, collapsing, dying and restricting so it never felt like quite the right time to publish it – until now.

If you follow me on social media, you’ll know I took some time off from sewing because my heart was just not in it anymore.  We moved across the country, the world was in chaos and I started therapy to help cope with it all. The sewing world no longer felt like my safe space, and therapy allowed me to do some deep reflecting. I was on a quest to find out why I am the way I am in hopes that my answers would lead me to have a more purpose driven life. I knew I wanted to be helpful and make a difference, but I just didn’t know how or where to even start. My therapist suggested I make a list of all the things I am good at, and then make a sub list to figure out if the things that I am good at also made me FEEL GOOD. If I found a thing that answered both those points, then somewhere in there I would find my answer(s). So I made the list, many lists actually,…and there was one constant theme: upcycling. 

I’m good at upcycling, (otherwise you wouldn’t be following me right?) AND upcycling makes me FEEL GOOD. The more I meditated on these facts, the more I knew what needed to be done, and so I decided to first finish and then publish my UPCYCLED PDF PATTERN Shirt to Dress. This pattern has been in the works for several years, since my first shirt upcycle in 2015. I kept putting it off, and finding excuses not to work on it anymore. But, this year I challenged myself to complete my “To Do List of Long Ago” (a list of all the things I’ve meant to sew and do for the past 6 years) and completing this pattern and publishing it is one of them. 

But apart from making lists, and checking stuff off, it was also important to me that whatever I shared was useful. I realized that this pattern could be useful to others.

There really is something so magical and sentimental about taking something from the older generation and creating something to be worn by the newer generation. I think it’s such a sweet way to recreate memories, and honor those we love. The process is profoundly heartfelt for the maker, and also for the receiver and more than anything I wanted to be able to give that feeling to others.

So I decided now was the right time to finish and publish the pattern. Now that I’ve bared my soul to you, let’s talk about some key features of the pattern:  

1. There are 2 Views to choose from VIEW A: Button in Front

VIEW B: Buttons in the Back:

• It has nice clean finishes (You know I’m a stickler for clean finishes)

• The pattern allows you to use the original hem and button placket of the shirt for your finished dress or top.

• Pattern also includes a step by step tutorial on how to add an overlay to your finished garment

• It also features some of my own BONUS upcycling tips.

Size ranges: 18 months to 8 years.

And sidenote, if you’re wondering why did I choose that specific size range: 

After many, many muslins, and taking into consideration the standard size and fit of an adult button down shirt, this size range was the one that worked nicely enough to accommodate the bodice piece and give the skirted area a nice enough gather considering how the skirt portion is cut and attached to the bodice. 

Now, I don’t claim to be a Pattern Designer, (even though I have published 2 patterns), so I won’t promise that I’ll keep making them, (after all this only took me 6 years), all I hope is that  you’ll find this pattern useful, and I hope that it will help you spread some joy to countless others. 

All the best and HAPPY UPCYCLING, 

Candice