Convertible Shirt

Today I decided to experiment with a new kind of shirt. It is modeled after this dress, which can be worn, they claim, an infinite number of ways. I utilized this tutorial but I also made some changes. There is also tons of good advice to be found at Craftster.org. The first big change is that mine is a shirt rather than a dress, mostly because I didn't have enough fabric on hand to make a dress and I wanted to give this a try before buying fabric. I think I am going to like it and might have to buy some nicer fabric in a solid color.
The fabric is a knit gauze that I got a while back and I would have to say that a print like this would not be my first choice for this shirt/dress. The fabric only stretches one way (width wise), which is, I think, important unless you are fairly flat chested. The original has the ties attaching to a skirt (shirt bottom) with no upper tube, however since I am fairly chesty I thought that an upper tube could help to keep the girls contained and I was right, I definitely recommend the upper tube for the well endowed.

So here is how to make one for yourselves. To make my size (42" bus, 32" waist) you will need a knit fabric, preferably one way stretch of at least 30%. My straps are about 2.5 yards long by 12" wide. The upper tube piece is 32" x 8" and the bottom tube piece is 32" x 18". The two straps overlap by about 4" in the center. Layer your fabrics like so: shirt bottom right side up, straps rightside down, shirt top (optional) right side down. Sew them all together then sew the tube together in the back and you are done!

Here is my second version, which I actually wear in public, it is a bit less crazy without the print. I think this may also be my favorite way to tie it. Please excuse the poor quality of the photo.