Wardrobe Wednesday: Modified Shirt Dress

I spent some time about a week ago working on a project that I had in mind for a while, but hadn't managed to find the time.

I like pockets. I need pockets. Yet many things don't meet this requirement. I found this simple shirt dress at Costco and thought it would be perfect. If only it had some pockets. So I bought it.

I pulled out a coordinating print fabric for those pockets. My pockets won't be boring. I had about a half yard of this fabric.

Using a side-seam pocket from a pair of sweat pants as a guide, I created this pocket pattern.

I carefully folded the fabric and cut out two sets of pockets.

The sleeves are these roll up with the tab thing.

Always messy. Not my favorite.

So I chopped off the offending bit to add a touch of color.

I cut cuffs from my fabric. Pressed up a 1/2" hem.

Pinned and stitched to the cut edge of the sleeve.

Pressed up over the edge and top stitched close to the top and bottom of the cuffs. I failed to get a final picture of this up close. Sorry.

I didn't like the drawstring for the waist, either. So I cut a couple strips, stitched them together and made a double fold string to replace it. Again, no photo. Thank goodness this isn't really a tutorial.

After all that, I ripped out the side seams enough to put in my pockets. I was careful with the ripping, as the side seams were stitched with a chain stitch. We'll have to wait and see if I was successful when it makes it through the wash the first time. I did stitch over a few places in an attempt to lock in the stitches.

I pinned the pockets in and stitched with a straight stitch.

Then I used the overlock machine to clean up the edges.

Pinned the pocket halves together, stitched with a straight stitch and then finished with the overlock. Nice clean and smooth finish.

Everything stitched and cleaned up.

Most importantly: it has pockets now.

Shirt dress from Costco: $14.99
1/2 yard of quilter's cotton fabric: $5 (it was a remnant, so likely not that much)
Time to pull it all together: about an afternoon but it seemed like all day
Having pockets in a garment I will enjoy wearing: priceless

I would like to give a shout-out to Megan over at The Bitchy Stitcher. She is an amazing person. She likes purple and cephalopods, which makes her even more amazing in my book. Anyway, she recently wrote a great newsletter about how the photos you see on the internet are carefully curated to show the best side of things. This dress is no different. I didn't show you the little mistakes. They are there. They don't affect the suitability of the garment in any way and I'm going to wear it because that's why I modified it. Can I do better? Definitely. Will imperfection slow me down? Not one bit!

Go make great things!