Naptime crafting: Men's button-down to baby dress

Captain Daddy has a habit of wearing his button-downs until the elbows wear through.  The sleeves are somehow a mess while the body of the button-down is still in good shape.  Knowing this, I pinned a picture of a dress made from a men's button-down.  And I waited.  Until last week, when Captain Daddy blew out the elbows of one of his much-loved shirts. 

Now, this picture had no details, so I kind of flew by the seat of my pants on this one.  I took pictures, though, so hopefully others can recreate it!  The whole project took under an hour start to finish, perfect for naptime!

Step 1: Lay the button-down flat on your work surface.  Ironing is probably a good idea, in my quest to do this as quickly as possible, I skipped that step.  Lay a dress/shirt/onesie that fits your little one on top of the button-down, and use it as a vague template.  If you're smart, you can use the hem of the shirt as the hem of your dress, and reduce the sewing!  The top of the dress is about halfway between two of the buttons.  Outline in chalk (no picture), then cut.

Step 2: Pin and sew the tops and bottoms of the arms and the sides of the dress.

Step 3: Grab your elastic (you could also use ribbon) and hold it against the dress to see how big of a cuff you need to enclose your elastic.  Bigger is better, so that you are able to thread the elastic through.  Sew the cuffs on the sleeves, leaving them open an inch or two in the underarm, and the cuff on the neck, leaving open at either side of the button band.  The neckline on mine is a little wonky, but I'm not worried about that, because it will be scrunched up, and you won't be able to see it.

Step 4: Thread elastic through, using a little more than 1/2 the circumference of the area you are threading.  You can lay the template dress on top to give you an idea of whether the neckline is an appropriate size.  For the sleeves, you will sew the ends of the elastic together, tuck into the cuff, and sew the opening closed (I didn't do this, again in the interest of time).  For the neckline, sew the elastic down on each end of the button band, and trim so it isn't visible.

Finished dress, on the table, then on the cutest toddler in the world!