Friday, May 09, 2008

A Wonderful Thing...

T-shirt dresses! I'm making several for Jenny and my niece Lottie's summer wardrobes. They will both be potty training over the next month or two, so not having to worry about pants is a wonderful thing! But I have to say that the t-shirt dress has many lovely aspects...

1) Customizable! Since you can make them out of any t-shirt/fabric combination, you can make them as simple, old fashioned, or trendy as you like...whatever best suits your daughter. Ruffles, tiers, flounces,pleats, tucks or just a simple gathered skirt...they all look so cute!

2) Feminine! Who doesn't love seeing a 2 year old girl running around about her day in a long dress??

3) Inexpensive!! Even if you're paying full price for both t-shirt and skirt fabric, it's hard to go over about $8.00 for little girls...and about $12.00 for bigger girls. *But*, if you are lucky and can find the t-shirts on sale (I got these for $1.00, or $2.50 on clearance at Wal*Mart and Target--hooray for end of season sales!), and use stash fabric (free) or even $2-4.00 quilters cotton (at half a yard/ little girl dress) you still spend under $5.00.

4) They're a year round option... I've even seen them made out of turtle necks, or long john (thermal) tops instead of t-shirts, with flannel, corduroy, or denim on the bottom. With a pair of warm cotton tights or leggings, even busy toddlers will be toasty!

5) They work wonderfully on so many ages!! Whether you're attaching a skirt onto a onesie (those baby undershirts that snap at the crotch) for a baby (something I plan on trying very soon for my 3 MONTH OLD niece Zoey), or onto a regular shirt, these look cute on girls right up until they start developing a more lady-like figure...so say 8 or 9 easy?


Another great thing, is that if you make the shirts a bit long and a size or two up from what they would normally wear, and the skirts full length wit a deep hem, then they will work again the next year, with a slightly more empire waist and a let out hem...perhaps with some eyelet or a coordinating ruffle at the bottom, depending on how much they grow! I'm hoping to get some pictures posted soon, but I'm still working on a few more right now. It is *so nice* to just have to pull off a nightgown and pop on a t-shirt in the morning and *poof* they're completely dressed. :-D I also like, that since they are so inexpensive, and so quick and simple to make, it leaves you with more funds/time to make those more special church/special occasion dresses...or just to work on whatever other projects you might have. A definite bonus for moms who are trying to sew for their family!!

Oh, and if anyone would be interested, I could do a t-shirt dress tutorial...just let me know if there is interest!

3 comments:

Lauren Christine said...

Oh, do share pictures!! :) They sound so cute!

Sommer said...

These sound great! I'd be very interested in a tutorial...what fun!

Mimi said...

Oh pictures and a tutorial would be wonderful, please!