Hanna Designs a Dress

Ideas to Try

Here are three ideas for recycling an old shirt.

Safety
Before you start, think about how to use the different equipment safely. Check with your teacher if you are not sure.

Make a Paper Pattern
Investigate the way that a shirt is made by taking an old one apart.

You will need: an old shirt; brown paper; dress-making pins; scissors.

1.	Look carefully at the shirt. Try to work out how many pieces of cloth have been used to make it.
2.	Begin by cutting off the buttons.
3.	Turn the shirt inside out.
4.	Carefully cut along all the seams of the shirt. (Seams are edges that have been stitched together.)
5.	Open out all the pieces of material and lay them flat.
6.	Pin each piece to brown paper, using pins all the way around the edge of the material.
7.	Cut out each shape from brown paper. Label it to remind you what part of the shirt the shape is used to make.
8.	You can use your paper pattern to make new shirts, but you might like to try a smaller project.

Make a Shirt for a Teddy
You will need: brown paper pattern (from the Make a Paper Pattern activity); a teddy; piece of cotton cloth (you could use some of the old shirt you took apart to make the paper pattern); coloured chalk; a tape measure; dress-making pins, scissors, needle and thread, Velcro or press studs.

1.	Measure your teddy’s arms, body and chest.
2.	Lay out your paper pattern.
3.	Draw a smaller paper pattern based on the big one, using your teddy’s measurements as a guide.
4.	Label each piece of the pattern to show the part of the shirt it will make.
5.	Pin your teddy pattern to the material you are going to use. Make sure you pin the pattern all the way around the edge of the paper.
6.	Very carefully cut around the pattern. Don’t go too close to the paper – leave about 5mm of material all the way around each of the shapes you are cutting out.
7.	When all the pieces are cut out, carefully mark around the paper pattern on the back of the material with coloured chalk. This will show you where to put the seams when you take the paper off.
8.	Take the paper pattern off the first two pieces of material you are going to join.
9.	Lay the two pieces face to face, so that only the back of the material can be seen.
10.	Line up the seams and pin the two pieces of material together.
11.	Carefully stitch along the chalk lines, using small, neat stitches. Take out the pins as you come to them.
12.	Join the next two pieces in the same way, until you have put together the whole shirt.
13.	Fold over any ragged edges of material and stitch a seam along the edge, to make the shirt neat and tidy.
14.	Turn the shirt right side out and try it on your teddy.
15.	You could add Velcro or press studs instead of buttons to keep the shirt closed.

Make a Fashion Statement
You could use an old shirt in the same way as Hanna, to make your own fashion statement.

You will need: paper and pencil; scissors; tape measure; needle and thread; beads and buttons; strips of cloth; food dyes; paintbrush.

1.	Look carefully at the materials you have. Try to picture the changes you would like to make. You could follow up the links from this site to get some ideas.
2.	Next, draw a design to show what the re-styled shirt should look like.
3.	Cut, stitch and re-shape the shirt. Add new bits and pieces. Perhaps you could use laces instead of buttons, or take away the collar or sleeves.
4.	You might want to add strips or patches of other material. Buttons and beads can be stitched on to change the look of the shirt.
5.	Try painting on food dyes to change the colour of parts of the material.
6.	Give your design a name – maybe it’ll catch on!