Monday 13 May 2013

T-Shirt Dress...


This is the latests dress I've made for Dress A Girl Around the World... a simple t-shirt dress.



I purchased both fabrics at an Op (thrift) Shop, so I'm not sure what they are. The floral appears to be a cotton, but maybe cotton with a little polyester. It's quite thin, so I lined it with the underskirt, which I'm guessing is a poly/cotton. I just love this fabric and I suppose it's a pity to hide most of it, but I do like the way it just peeks out from under the skirt.


The t-shirt is one I had lying around, but hadn't used. Looking at it now, I think it must have been a boys' t-shirt, as it looks very wide. In fact, I think the dress is way too wide. The t-shirt is a size 2 and I based the skirt measurements on the Fabric Needs When Making a Dress chart over at Sew Delightful. These measurements are for pillowcase dresses. To work out the measurements for the length of a t-shirt dress, the cut t-shirt length + the skirt length = the length of the pillowcase dress. I've double checked and the length is correct for a size 2.

Given how wide the t-shirt is, I probably could have just lengthened the skirt, but it was too late when I realised. The picture below shows the dress how I think it should look. I've just bunched it up. Perhaps I could sew ribbons at the side seams to tie into a bow at the back. Do you have any other suggestions as to what I could do?


Sometimes when I make a t-shirt dress, the seam between the t-shirt and the skirt sits beautifully, but other times, it puckers as in this one. I've never been able to work out what's different between the dresses. I've tried doing a straight stitch and a very small zig zag stitch, but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Looking back now, I'm thinking it may be in the quality of the t-shirts. 

Since making this dress, I've found a tip to prevent the puckering. Karen, from Dress A Girl Around the World - VA, shows how to use iron on interfacing to overcome the problem, in her Best T-shirt Dress tutorial. Thank you, Karen!!! I will definitely be using interfacing next time. Karen has also constructed her dress with pleats, another variation I'd like to try.


The t-shirt dress above, made almost a year ago, sits well, even though it was before I knew about the interfacing tip. If you'd like to know how I constructed this dress, there's a tutorial starting with painting the t-shirt and showing how to make the gathered t-shirt dress.

The little size 2 dress is the 7th dress towards my goal, sewing for Dress A Girl Around the World. Once I decide on what to do about the width, I'll send if off to the Australian rep for Dress A Girl.

... Pam

26 comments:

  1. Looks great. Any little girl would be happy with that.

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  2. I think this dress turned out great. It is so pretty.

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  3. It's lovely Pam, I think ribbon ties would be the ideal solution too.

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  4. Such sweet fabrics :) I think ribbon ties would be the easiest fix too.
    I think the differences you're getting may have to do with the different stretch in different shirts.
    It's a lovely dress and the bottom layer is gorgeous!!! I'm sure it's recipient will love it.

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  5. You could include a sash that pulled it tight or ribbons at each side that can pull the sides together and tie in bows. the fabrics are great together though!

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  6. I just LOVE that fabric underneath. You did a great job! I made a T-shirt dress for the first time last month. It's not the cutest. You've inspired me to try again. :) Thanks!
    Gina

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    1. It's gorgeous fabric, isn't it. I bought some more t-shirts today to make into dresses, so we'll see how those go.

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  7. could you sew the sides in a bit? if you put a ribbon on it I would make sure to sew in someplace so it doesn't get lost. I would also use grograin as it will stay ties longer. Or you could make a wide belt that had a magnet closure like you use for purses. it would make it more stable and easy to put on just trying to decide how long to make it. maybe those measurements are available at the site you were using. If you use ribbon don't forget to either use fray check or burn the edges so they don't fray. beautiful dress. I love this idea of making dresses for girls around the world I'll have to look into that soon. thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks so much for the suggestions! I'm hoping I have enough grosgrain ribbon in a matching colour... I haven't checked yet.

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  8. I think the dress turned out ever so CUTE! Oh how I WISH my girls were still little so I could make them some cute little dresses too! :0
    Christine
    ChrisW Designs

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  9. Pam, The dress is darling....so light and airy looking....I love the color. It will look precious on a little 2 year old girl!!!
    Kay

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    1. Thanks, Kay. I really love the colours and the fabric...just lucky they were all in my stash.

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  10. Pam Great Dress , i think maybe 2 sets of bows , one at each side, you sew them at a 1/3 of the front and the back. and than she can tie a bow at each side ..
    mirjam

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  11. I make these t-shirt dresses for my grand-daughters. I use vintage pillowcases(when I can find them)as the skirt portion of the dresses. Your dresses are so pretty and I especially like the blue with the underskirt.

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  12. So lovely dress!!!I like so much the ribbon in the underskirt!!!
    http://freestilcreatingbyvilly.blogspot.gr/

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    1. Thanks Anastasia. I wish I had more of the underskirt fabric...

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  13. Another great dress Pam - and a great tip about the interfacing!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  14. I love the white embroidered fabric and the floral fabric! They look so good together! And with an active little girl the floral fabric is sure to flip up a lot and show the fabric underneath. Thanks for the tip on using interfacing; I've always had trouble with that too!
    Thanks for linking up!

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  15. You did a fantastic job at picking these fabrics! The dress is lovely!
    Esther
    ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com

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  16. Would love for you to join my link up we pin all those who join to our party board
    http://myfashionforwardblog.com/2013/5/23/all-things-pretty-9

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  17. Pam you did a wonderful job! Thank you for sharing at Fluster's Creative Muster.

    Robin
    Fluster Buster

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  18. adorable Pam, love the one with the painted shirt, hmmmm did I feature something like that once? Thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

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  19. I would love to make dresses for Dress a Girl, but I couldn't find anything on the website for New Zealanders who want to participate. Do you think NZ would be grouped under Australia?

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    1. I vaguely recall seeing dresses donated by New Zealanders in the past. If you contact the Australian rep, she'd be able to tell you.

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