T-shirts to Dresses

This past summer I had the pleasure of working on Paperhand Puppet Interventions annual summer show both as a performer and as a costumer.  The show this year did not call for as many costumes but I did manage to create a few fun pieces.  I started with my child costume.  I am a little busty so when I was thinking about my costume I wanted to find a way to minimize my chest.  I came up with the idea of making a ruffled dress. I got a great lightweight cotton for the dress and did a series of tiered ruffles.  It spun and twirled so great and it was easy to toss on and off over my leggings for quick changes.  Once it was completed I wanted to find a way to make dresses for other members of the cast.

Jersey knit fabric can get a little pricey, so when I needed to make a series of dresses I decided to get crafty to keep cost down.  I needed the costumes to be easy to clean because we were performing outside in 100+ degree heat and things could get a bit stinky and I also wanted fun bright colors to reflect the child characters we were portraying.  My solution?  T-shirts!  I went to the clearance section of the store and found some XXXL shirts in great colors.  I then went and found t-shirt to fit the actors actual size.  

 I cut the XXXL shirt off under the armpits and gathered the material to fit to the waist size of the actor.  Using the extra material left over from the fabric above the arm holes I created embellishments to make each dress unique and special.  In the end I had light weight and comfortable costumes that were easy to perform in and just as easy to toss in the wash.

 Thanks again to Lee Capps Photography for wonderful pictures!