Happy Friday: $0.50 Homemade Sweater Dress
Sent from reader, Erin: I made this dress that looks a lot like a dress I had been eyeing at an upscale children’s store for my daughter from a woman’s sweater for only 50 cents! My local chain of thrift stores every year have one day where you can stuff a shopping bag for $10 and the sweater made it in the bag.
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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great idea. i’m so motivated to hit my local goodwill to score some couture looks for my little ones. thanks.
This the PERFECT example of why I love being frugal! It’s cute, creative, thrifty, and fun! I like how I did notice while being frugal -instead of whipping out a credit card (or money you don’t have to spend) you look for ways to get what you want that won’t break the wallet! I.love.it 😀
Erin-hats off to you, girl! That dress is lovely and the wokr you must have put into it, along with all the love!
I envy your sewing skills 🙂
Looks a little big on her, but it’s super cute!
I buy all of my son’s clothes big so he can wear them for a while :hide: LOL 🙂
I do the same thing!
Doesn’t every mom buy a size up and love dark color clothing so they can grow into it and stains wont show.LOL.
My wife and I do a lot of shopping at thrift stores too but we buy the size our kids need at that time. I don’t understand why you would make your kid(s) “grow” into their clothes. Your saving money already, probably able to buy a few outfits for the price that a pair of jeans would cost at a big named store. So buy them what fits at that time. Maybe we have it all wrong as to why the kids are wearing their jeans so baggie so that we can see their butt. We thought it was their fault all this time, but it really is their parents fault. The kids just need to GROW into their jeans. I understand it now. I’ll pass that info on to everyone.
We buy all of our kids play clothes at thrift stores or yard sales and we also find nicer stuff at both those places that we can send them to school in. We also hit some consignment shops locally. We get huge tax savings by all the clothes that we buy at these places and then donate to various charities. So, I say this to the parents who buy their kids clothes so they can grow into them. Do YOU by YOUR clothes so YOU can grow into them? I mean, you could grow too! You like your clothes to fit properly, so why shouldn’t your kids fit properply as well? Your saving the money up front, buy them what fits, when they grow out of it, donate it, get the tax savings and buy them more at the great thrift store prices. Oh yeah, who buys dark clothes so that they will hide the stains? That sounds nasty! Stains still show up on dark clothes. I’m a guy and I know all of this. Anyhow, that’s my 28 cents worth!
I agree with buying things to fit my children . . . but that might be because my children grow so slow. My kids often get pants as gifts that are one size too big, they try them on (and I can not get them to NOT wear them), and the pants get stepped on and stained (after one time of wearing them). I feel so bad because buying one size up didn’t save any money. It only ruined the pants 🙁 and I put them away for the next year because I don’t want to continually roll the pants up or hem them (because you get a crease).
but I don’t think that dress looks too big for that cute little girl.
Love it. I love upcycling.
too cute! 🙂
Mom, you did a great job. The dress is beautiful and your daughter is just precious. 🙂
Definitely looks like something you would see at an upscale store – or on Suri Cruise!
Nice creativity and frugality – my favorite words – next to sale and coupon that is…
I thought of Suri too! Great minds think alike! 😉
Very cute and creative! Love it! Beautiful little girl, too!
too cute.
Both the dress & your daughter are gorgeous, Erin!! 🙂
Looks perfect! Wish I had some crafty skills to do something similar! Awesome job with the sweater and with being smart with your money!
What a cutie! I wish I had an imagination to come up with something like this! 🙂
I want the pattern!
Good work! 🙂
Make me one too, lol.
I am not an avid sewer or seamstress, but I am guessing there was just some taking in that happened. The length stayed the same, the side seams were probably opened, pinned to fit her body and then sewn. Same with the arms, which might have been a bit tricky because of the shoulder. I mean, it’s a thrift store sweater, if it doesn’t work out the first time, try again!
You have just inspired me to try it! Very cute!
Erin Great job I love the dress and your little Christmas angel is oh sooo cute!!!
I like how she and the cowboy are posing together…..and the dress is cute, too!
Erin, you did a great job on that dress, and your daughter is adorable! 😉
She is adorable!
Great job! Very cute!! I bet she thinks it’s extra special since her mama made it! 😉
check out pinterest.com. i saw these instructions there. it looks super easy!
Great job!!!
Adorable! I would totally wear that in my size.
That’s a pretty good idea!
Good job. It’s absolutely beautiful!
Gorgeous dress! And daughter too. Nice job:)
Great idea & great mom! 🙂
Such a pretty little girl and the dress turned out so nice! Smart and savvy momma!
Ok…so details on HOW you made it Please?!?! Thanks!!!
Adorable dress and girl! Love your craftiness!
Would love to know how you did it 🙂
What a sweet girl and you did a great job on her dress!
very cute!!! awesome idea 🙂
Where is “Like” button,lol. I would love to know how did you transform a sweater into the “Oh-so-cute” dress! Your daugther looks so adorable in her dress. 🙂
Love it! Great idea! On black friday I went out just to gift myself a sewing machine. It was $50 dollars at Walmart, but I’m hoping I can get lots of projects for my too girls in the upcoming year. 😀
Darling!!!
love it! Would love to see a follow up how too if possible.
Runs to closet to see if I have any cute sweaters for my daughter to make a dress.
i love it. looks like it was store bought. great idea. can you share?
When she outgrows it, you can remove the red ribbon and wear it yourself. Congrats on your creativity!
Wonderful job Erin! Pls post the original pic so that we can get a closer look at it and may try to get inspired!
This is simply adorable, Erin. Kudos to you for thinking outside of the box, and making a really cute dress for your daughter. 🙂
Wow! Thanks for posting my pic Collin! I’ve had such a busy day getting ready for a craft fair tomorrow that I hadn’t had time to take a look at Hip2Save. I was starting to get the shakes 🙂 Also, thanks to everyone who commented! I didn’t use a pattern to make this. In fact, it was going to be a pillow, then I took a look at the neckline and since I didn’t have to alter that, I decided to make a dress. The original sweater was a woman’s size small and Miss Claire is a short size 7.
Here’s the instructions. I hope they make sense!
First, I turned it inside out and tried it on Claire. I marked where her shoulders were and cut the sleeves off. This left a pretty big hole, so I tried it on her again and marked under her armpits with some wiggle room. Then i sewed up the sides under the armpits to make an a-line style dress. Next, I tried a sleeve on her to see how much I would have to take in and shorten and then I re-attached the sleeves. For the ribbon, I used a big eye blunt tip needle to weave the ribbon through the holes and sewed them to the seam allowance on the inside.
If you have any questions you can email me at
bartleydannandesigns@hotmail.com
Wow,very good!! And so pretty!
Too cute! Perfect Christmas dress for your daughter! It looks really warm and cozy too 😉
Super cute!!! The dress and the girl 🙂 Nice job!
I think it’s great Erin! And shame on anyone criticizing. You do not know every families circumstances and situations! I think it’s awesome of a mother wanting something cute and fashionable for her precious daughter and “making do” with what she has! Not everyone has the luxury of purchasing clothing for every stage of their growing child’s life, weather it’s affordable in others’ opinions or not! Way to go Erin, keep up the cute work!
Well said!
Well Said! I think it’s absolutely adorable 🙂