review: sew pretty t-shirt dresses

Today I have the pleasure of being part of the blog tour for Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses! Sixth & Spring books sent me a copy to look over and try out and tell you about. Because I don't have kids, I decided that this would be a good book for making things for my 8-year-old sister.





I'm not usually a fan of restyled t-shirt dresses, because they often look pretty blah. You know the ones I'm talking about: super straight tee with a little ruffle added at the bottom? This book is not like that. In fact, on most of the designs, if not all of them, you'd hardly know that they started as a t-shirt. That's basically just the base.

The other thing I like is that the designs don't just look like they're for little girls. There's some much more sophisticated options in here, and I'd probably consider wearing some of them myself.




When the book arrived, I gotta tell you, I was a little nervous because the sizes only go up to a 7/8, and my sister is tall. Thin, but tall. Normally, a 7/8 wouldn't work. But the dress designs in here are pretty adjustable. You make skirt pieces based on the size of the t-shirt you're working with.

We settled on making the Square Dance dress and chose a new t-shirt from my sister's closet to work with. Grace is a super pink kinda gal, and we would have loved to have had pink bandanas to work with. Sadly, they didn't have enough of the same dye lot in the right pink, so we settled on traditional navy. The contrast is cute though, don't you think?




I've read from others that this book is good for people of all skill levels, but as someone with limited sewing skills, I was afraid to tackle this on my own. My mom and I worked together, and I was glad.

One thing we found with this particular dress was that it's a more difficult design to adjust the size on. It's supposed to have a bandana on the front and back, but they would have overlapped on the sides, which wasn't part of the design. Had we made this in a smaller size, it would have been worse. Instead, we opted for more of an apron look.

We both felt that it helps to read the instructions, think through them, and adjust sizes and steps as needed. But speaking of adjusting, one benefit to the construction of these is that without a pattern, you can adjust lots of things as you want and feel comfortable.




Although you can't tell from the pictures (it was COLD outside!) Grace loves her new dress so much, and we've all got more picked out for the next projects. By not making the bodice, these really save a lot of time, and they're soft and sweet too!

Be sure to stop by all the other blogs in the Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses blog tour. There are reviews, more finished projects, and some giveaways!

May 5
Nouveau Stitch
Just Pure Lovely
The Crafty Princess Diaries

May 6
Crafting A Green World
Stitched by Crystal


May 7
Prudent Baby
House of 34

May 8
Smashed Peas and Carrots
Simply Modern Mom

May 9
Marsha’s Spot
Sew Spoiled

May 10
Dollar Store Crafts
Only From Scratch

May 11
Wild Olive (You're here!)
Positively Splendid

May 12
On the Laundry Line
Elegance and Elephants

May 13
Luvinthemommyhood
My Little Gems