Glue Gun Dress in Watermelon

  

Do you want to make your little girl a dress, but don't think you can sew?  This is the project for you.

*This dress can also be completely sewn with a sewing machine.  Any step that I hand stitch, or glue, you would just do a straight stitch on you machine. ;)

Supplies:

A t-shirt or two

needle 

thread

glue gun

I grabbed some women's shirts off the clearance rack at Target.  I picked the biggest sizes they had, so I would have more fabric to work with.  

1. Cut across the t-shirt from the bottom of one sleeve to the other.  This is going to be the main part of your dress.  Next, cut off the hem of the sleeves.  I cut about three inches above the hem.  From the remaining part of the shirt, cut 4 half inch strips across the width of the shirt (cut two strips from another shirt to add some color to the braided strap).  Now cut a rectangle that is 2 1/2 x 7 inches.

2.  With your needle and thread, sew a basting stitch about 1/4 inch from the cut edge on you main dress piece.  Tess is 20 inches around her chest, so I gathered my dress up to be a little more than 10 inches across.  Adding a little room is important because there is no stretch in this part of the dress.  Once the dress is gathered to the size you want, tie off your thread and snip the extra.  Set this part aside.

3.  Now it's time to work with the sleeve pieces.  Cut them open on the bottom seam.  

Stack them right sides together and trim off ends.  Cut them down to be about 1/2 inch longer than the width of the gathered dress.  Line up the original hem stitch and use your glue gun to glue the ends together.  You are making a tube.

The two pieces should look like the photo on the left.  If you don't want to see any glue coming out, hand stitch just below the glued seam like the picture on the right.

4.  Grab your small rectangle and fold it in half lengthwise with right sides together.  Run a bead of glue down the length of the rectangle to glue it together.  Once the glue is set, use a safety pin, or loop turner to turn it right sides out.  Cut the rectangle in half to make two smaller rectangles.  Fold the smaller rectangles in half with the seam inside the loop.  Glue the ends together.

5.  Now let's make the braided straps.  Stack your long strips, and put a dab of glue between them.  Braid the strips and tie the end in a double knot.  Cut off any excess fabric.  I made my braids as long as they would go.  

6.  Take your main dress piece and turn it inside out.  Insert the gather into the tube we made with the sleeve hem.  The tube should also be seam sides out.  Line up the side seams and pin in place.  

7.  Pin the center of each side together.  Now insert your loops and straps between the band and gather piece.  I put the loop edge flush with the dress edge.  I stuck the braid a little past the edge.  I placed my braided straps and loops about two inches from the center pin.  Pin the loops and straps in place.  You can move your gather round and space the fabric out as you go.  

8.  This is the BIG moment.  Let's glue it!  Be careful not to burn yourself.  Slowly go around the top and hot glue the band and dress together.  When you get to a strap or loop be sure to glue it on both sides.  Try not to squeeze the glue in gobs.  You want a nice even bead.

9.  Take your pins out and let the glue set.

10.  When the glue is cool it's time to flip it right sides out.

  Your sleeve hem has now become a band across the top of the dress.  You could glue down the band if you want to, but it shouldn't be necessary.

There are several different ways to tie the straps, and I think they are all cute.

Here is the completed glue gun dress in a fun watermelon color.  Tess' purple pansy dress has passed the preschool and washing machine test.  It's crazy to glue a dress, but it really does work.  Have you glued anything lately?  Grab a button and add it to your glue gun post.

Email me (saltypineapple@gmail.com) a link to your post.  I would love to see it and feature it during

Happy Glueing!