Little Girl Dress from Shirt

So, I have this shirt from the Australia Zoo that I bought on a vacation several years ago and I never wear. Often the things I decide I will never wear that are bright colors go in my girls dress-up clothes. My youngest found this and wanted it to be a dress, so I obliged.

It started out like this:
And ended up like the first pic. How? Well, you can kind of see it on the pic below. I ran darts (for those familiar with sewing), two on the back and two on the front, from the neckline to the hip area. It helped to bring it in and also created a bit more of a flare for a skirt. Then, I put elastic thread in my bobbin and ran a regular stitch under the arm and around to the top of the shoulder (almost to the neckline; about 1" away). That gathered it enough to make a poofy sleeve. If I remember right, I also did that around the bottom of the sleeve to complete the "poof."


I will leave one tid-bit I discovered. This was one of my first times using elastic thread. You only need it in the bobbin, so don't waste it on the main thread. My tid-bit, though, is to leave enough of a lead at the start and tail at the end that you can tie a knot with the elastic and main thread. Otherwise, when it's stretched, the elastic will come right out. Ah, the great teacher experience....