Have you ever had a halter top or halter dress that you wondered might be a tad bit too small or large for you kids? Why not fix it with a simple shirt?

Over the summer when the Doc McStuffins exhibit opened at our local Children’s Discovery Museum I realized I had Doc McStuffins fabric in my stash and HAD to sew something for my girls. I bought the fabric from JOANN’s without the kids knowing, so I sneakily sewed the Marshmallow dress from Candy Castle Patterns. Unfortunately, I gave myself a quick deadline. The pattern has many adorable ruffled and length add-ons but I kept it plain to let the fabric shine through. Probably because of my self-imposed deadline, through no fault of the pattern, it became one of those really frustrating sews where you constantly see mistakes being made. When I finished, after two post-bedtime nights of sewing, I was excited for the girls to try it on and rushed to get out of the house to have time for a stop on the way to the museum. The whole time I kept questioning whether the dresses seemed too small. I didn’t want to repurpose the dresses after all the work I put into it especially since the kids had seen, worn, and fallen in love with the dresses so I had to come up with an alternative solution so they could keep wearing their dresses.

Even though the sewing wasn’t fun, as I rushed it, I still loved the finished dresses and the kids loved having a Doc McStuffins outfit. I didn’t want to get rid of the outfits but I wasn’t sure what else to do. I finally found a solution and purchased two simple white t-shirts for the kids to wear underneath their dresses. I love how the shirts don’t take away from the overall dress and probably make the dress more comfortable to wear too. I had to laugh the first time we went to the discovery museum after purchasing the shirts and Zoey kept putting the face paint on her chin then looking down so she stained the shirt right away. Overall, it ended up a success and now the shirts are folded within their matching dress after the laundry so I never have to go looking for the shirt when the girls’ want to wear these dresses.

I love how a dress that ended up being disappointing for me still ended up a win for Ada and Zoey. The white shirt is such a simple addition that made the dress work for both me and them. Next time I choose to make the Marshmallow dress I might size the front of the shirt larger than the measurement. I eventually want to attempt the pattern again; although, I’m in no rush to do so yet. Depending on their tastes I may add ruffles next time or if they still love the peppermint swirl dress maybe buy the add-on to mash the peppermint swirl skirt and marshmallow dress together. I’ve sewn both kids a peppermint swirl dress for the last two Christmases and haven’t had a problem with that pattern but wanted to share this in case you ever have the same issue with another garment you sew, buy, or are gifted. Oh. And if the fabric looks familiar, I’ve since used the remnants (and another fabric) to sew up Rebecca Page’s Olivia top for the girls.

I hope this helps if you find you have a similar issue. Are there any clothing mishaps that you were able to solve with another clothing item? I’d love to hear if you want to share in the comments below, on my Facebook page, or through Instagram. Hope you’re have a great day!