I was inspired by the racks of used sweaters at the thrift store the other day. I grabbed 5, hoping to come up with something amazing!! What came was an adorable, comfortable sweater dress for my little toddler. This is a very easy project for a beginner. Depending on how you do it, you may not even need to hem anything! It's also ridiculously inexpensive to make. Have fun!

Materials:

used sweater
sewing machine
scissors
pins

Step 1: Cut A-line Shape

I'm a big fan of using my child's clothes as a pattern. For this dress, I grabbed an a-line dress that fits her well and used it as a reference. This doesn't need to be exact. It can be a little loose or even a little snug would be cute. Your sweater should be stretchy. Lay the dress down at the bottom of the sweater and cut an a-line shape. You are going to use the bottom of the sweater so you don't have to hem it.

Step 2: Sleeves

First, cut two little curves for the arm-holes at the top. For the sleeves, I used the sleeves from the sweater (again, so I don't have to hem.) They will be too wide. You'll need to cut them narrower to fit your child. attach the sleeves. The top edge will be raw.

Step 3: Finish Neck

For the neckline, I used the neckline from the original sweater. I cut it off the sweater, so I had a strip. When I attached it to the dress, I didn't have quite enough, so I had to stretch it as I sewed to make it work. With dress right-side-out, pin neckline to dress upside down. Sew the two raw ends together. Sew on to dress.