Tale of Two Sleeves Turned Doll Dresses

 
A few years ago, I bought one of those "purple paisley shirt" type garments.  It was a shiny, dark, silver shirt that I'm sure no one else had a use.  I bought it to make a gift bag.  I used most of the back to make the bag and kept the rest, because I just can't throw away a piece of fabric.  This Christmas I've been making clothes for 2 little girls' 18" dolls.  When I came across this shirt, I discovered the 2 sleeves.

In the hem of the sleeve, at the underarm seam, I used my seam ripper to make a slit on each side of the seam in the top layer. (you may feel like you need to blanket stitch the holes to stop fraying.) Don't make the slit go through both layers.  Thread a ribbon (or whatever) through the hem which is now the top of the dress and the seam of the sleeve is the front of the dress.

In what is now the back of the dress, tack the ribbon so it won't slip out.  I used a decorative stitch.  You could just tack if you like.

 

Create a narrow hem on what used to be the top of the sleeve.  I used a decorative stitch on each dress.