What started out as a hobby has turned into a full-fledged business for Lisa Litos.

One day about four years ago, Litos, who had been working full time with the Dartmouth Harbormaster's Department, decided to take some of her husband’s old T-shirts and use her sewing skills to “upcycle” them into a dress for her to wear herself. After some friends saw her creation, they urged her to make more, and she did. From there, the Chicago native started selling the dresses to friends and at the Dartmouth Farmers Market in Padanaram Village.

“They were selling out,” said Litos, a mother of two.

Fast forward to 2015, and Litos is working on a limited basis with the Harbormaster. She recently opened a storefront in Padanaram, and her “Refried Tees” are being sold at 33 locations around the country.

“It took off,” said Litos, a Dartmouth resident, from her new 8 Bridge Street location, which also doubles as a workspace for smaller and custom orders. “I knew it was a good product from all the feedback I was getting, but I didn’t know that it would get as big as it’s getting now.”

At Refried Tees, several different styles of dresses and skirts are available, with three different themes. There’s “Refried Custom,” which takes a customer’s own T-shirts and turns them into original creations; then there’s the “Refried Flair,” which features a variety of designs drawing from beach, nautical, and other themes; and lastly, there’s the “BK Collection,” which turns original artwork from folk artist Brian Kirkpatrick into clothing.

“It’s the T-shirt reimagined,” said Litos. “Everything’s made from tees.”

Many of Litos’s custom creations come from but are not limited to people’s old rock-and-roll and sports tees. By taking the old shirts that are often sitting around in dressers and closets and turning them into something that can be used again, Litos has created a fun and funky yet sustainable and environmentally friendly business model that seems to be succeeding.

“They’re one-of-a-kind — I never make the same one twice,” she said. “I think that’s what people like so much about them.”

She’s even started getting custom orders from stores that she currently sells non-custom orders to. A few businesses have sent her T-shirts that haven't sold for one reason or another and have asked them to turn them into dresses. Guy Harvey, a nationally known brand that features tees with depictions of sea life that are popular with sports fishermen, has also asked Litos to provide a test order of dresses made from unsold shirts.

“We’ve given them a way to do something with the tees that are surplus,” she said. “The stores actually have the ability to get rid of some of their overstock and turn it into (new products).”

Litos said she does most of the work along with some semi-retired seamstresses from some of the mills in New Bedford, and more recently, for larger, non-custom orders of over 300 pieces, she’s gotten some help from a larger factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

“We’re hoping to expand it a little bit more,” said Litos. “I’m excited about it. We’ve grown so much and it’s gotten so busy, but as with any startup, you have to give it 110 percent to make it work.”

“Refried Tees” are also available at the Euro Ship Store in Fairhaven and other locations around Massachusetts. For a list of retailers and more information on the products, visit www.refriedtees.com.