Turn an NBA Jersey into a Dress
My 9-year-old daughter, Sophia, won a Denver Nuggets #35 Faried jersey at school. She wasn't too thrilled with the fit. So, I made a dress out of it!
Poor girl. It's a youth size large.
We went to the fabric store and found Burda kids pattern 9418. I cut up the pattern and decided it would work with a few adjustments.
First, I took the bottom hem out of the jersey so that I could get as much fabric out of it as possible. Next, I took off the little Player ID tag, which I added again at the very end of the project with Sophia's name.
I cut the side panels in the Burda pattern (pattern piece 3) from the side panels of the jersey. Notice that I took great care not to cut into the jersey number on the front and back.
I put a cutting board inside the shirt so that I cut only one side.
I cut off the white trim around the arm openings.
After cutting off the arm opening trim, I folded the whole thing in half and cut out the front piece on the fold. Again, I took great care not to cut the jersey number. Also, I decided to not re-do the neckline and simply use the existing V-neck.
I made this in a child's size 10, so in order for the jersey number to fit, I had to make the arm openings a little longer.
Next, I cut out the back piece, again on the fold. I had to move this pattern piece down a bit in order to get the number to fit and had to widen the whole thing (notice pattern piece is about 1/2" to the right of the fold). I made slight adjustments at the arm and at the waist.
I sewed on the side panels.
I edgestitched every seam - that neaten'd up the seams a bit and gave the whole thing a more finished look.
Following the pattern directions, I needed to cut fabric for the skirt. Sophia wanted to add mesh (the pattern calls it a "flounce"), so we boght some of that. I couldn't find any fabric to match, so I bought a white jersey at my local thrift store for $4.99.
Using the pattern pieces and directions, I assembled the skirt and added it to the jersey top.
Again, I edge-stitched along the seam for a finished look. The last step was to add the Player ID back, with Sophia's name added.
The dress was still a little baggy on Sophia and those arm holes ended up being rather large, so she has to wear a tank top under.
I don't know if Sophia likes basketball or the Denver Nuggets or Kenneth Faried, but she loves her new jersey dress!
