DIY: Recycle T-Shirts into a Racerback Dress/Cover-up

I have a lot of old (and often oversized) t-shirts that I hold on to from school, community events and my husband outgrowing (or shrinking) his Old Navy t-shirts. I keep them with the hope that I can turn them into a more wearable item for myself at some point. This summer I decided to take the common DIY racerback tee and add some length to it to have a casual dress to take with me to the beach.

It was the perfect piece to bring to the beach, so before I returned to my burning hot state of Texas to visit I made a couple more to keep me cool during the visit.

This requires a bit of sewing at the end – but it’s a simple straight forward stitch.

In very few words, here’s the visual on how to do it:

First, cut the sleeves. I like to take the first side and mirror it over the second side as a guide to make sure the arm holes are even.

Then I cut the neck to my preference. (In the future I’m going to experiment with squaring off the scoop neck a little more. When I cut the backside of the shirt, I dip down quite a bit so I don’t have as much fabric to wrap up in the end. Using fabric from the 2nd t-shirt I cut a strip long enough to wrap the back of the first tee into a racerback:

Then to add a little flair, I cut another strip of tee and weaved it through the neckline.

If all you’re looking for is a new workout shirt, stop here.  If you want to make a cover-up/dress. Use a 2nd t-shirt and cut the bottom off. I needed to cut it at the waistline to create a dress that would be the length I wanted. line up the fabric ends with the fronts of the t-shirts facing each other, then just use a simple straight stitch to create your new hemline.

The end product looks like this:

Feeding deer after a hot summer day at the lake

It made these deer magically appear! Not really…but seriously, it didn’t keep them away.

I paired the dress with a bandeau from Victoria’s  Secret. I love being able to just throw these things on and go out for a casual day on the beach or outside. I think  you warmer climate people will especially agree.