tiered teeshirt dress

Here is another variation on the teeshirt dress. I think this one is easier than the circle skirt variation (although that one is not really hard, either) and after making a few of these you will be a pro at gathering!

First, gather your materials. You will need a teeshirt and skirt fabric. The skirt fabric is totally up to you. You can use all one fabric and use the tiers to create fullness or you can use multiple fabrics. Not all these examples are on a teeshirt dress, but you can get an idea of the different things you can do with a tiered skirt:




Once you have decided on your fabrics you need to do some (simple) math. Decide how long you want the skirt to be. Divide that by the number of tiers you want your skirt to have. This is how WIDE each tier of the skirt will be except for the bottom tier. For the bottom tier you need to add a hem allowance. If you're folding up twice and stitching like we did in the first dress, add 2 inches.

So, if I want my finished skirt to be 15 inches long and I'm using 3 tiers, the first two tiers will be 5 inches wide (15/3= 5) and the bottom tier will be 7 inches wide (15/3= 5+2= 7)

My formula for determining the length of the tier is:
1st tier = X
2nd tier= X + (1/2 * X)
3rd tier= 2X

My most often used value for X is one cut salvage to salvage (side to side), or 45 inches. The second tier is then one cut salvage to salvage plus another 1/2 cut salvage to salvage and the third is two cuts salvage to salvage.

Sew your tiers together. They should look something like this:


Now you're going to gather the longest tier to fit with the shortest tier. Sew the two tiers together being careful to keep the same seam allowance the entire time. This is Very Important to the finshed skirt!


repeat, gathering the middle layer and attaching it to the top layer:


Fold the skirt in half, matching the tiers up as much as possible (this is why it was so important to keep the same seam allowance! If you didn't your tiers won't match up!) and sew up the side:


Gather the top of the skirt and attach to the shirt in the same way you attached the regular teeshirt dress. Finish the hem and you're done!

Teeshirt Twirly Dress

Haha! It's been waaaay more than a few days. Oh well, better late than never, right? This is my favorite version of the teeshirt dress to make for my daughter. It uses a little more fabric for the skirt and cut in a way that makes it nice and twirly, which is a must for the 3-4 year old set.

First, gather your materials. You need a teeshirt (duh!), a pattern for a circle skirt (I like Favorite Things Little Circle Skirt.), and about 1 yard of fabric. You might get by with less depending on the print you choose.


Cut out your skirt pieces based on your circle skirt pattern. Don't cut out any waist bands. You don't need them because you are attaching the skirt to the shirt. Pay attention to the arrow on the pattern piece: that should run up and down with the fabric. It may be tempting to try to conserve fabric by turning the pattern piece sideways, but don't do it! This is important to make the dress hang right when it's finished. Also cut your teeshirt off if you need to.


Now, sew your skirt pieces together. It will look like this when you are done:


Fold the skirt in half. You want to be looking at two seams in the front with NO seams on the side. If you line up the seams so that there are two on the sides, you will also have a seam right down the front and right down the back, which is NOT flattering. ; ) Take pins, or a fabric marker and mark where the sides are. (Different fabric to make it easier to see the seams.)


Now line up those side markings with the sides of the shirt. The shirt should be right side out while you will be looking at the wrong side of the skirt fabric. Apparently I neglected to take a picture of this step with the circle skirt, but it's the same way you attach the skirt in the regular teeshirt dress:


Sew the skirt to the shirt. You will need to stop frequently to adjust the skirt as you are sewing a curved line (the skirt) to a straight line. Pull on the skirt fabric to make it somewhat straight as you sew it. Also try your hardest to line up the side you marked on the skirt to the side of the shirt.

Now all that's left to do is to hem!

Alligator dress

I finished this one up today. It was a for hire project for a friend. Actually, for her 3-year old niece whose name starts with J. Her aunt saw M's dress and wanted one exactly like it, only with pink fabric. I convinced her to go with this design instead. It has less smocking than a bishop so I could finish it in her time frame without feeling rushed. I'm pleased with how it turned out. She was pleased too.

Things I discovered with this project: on a straight yoke dress with a monogram, you need to backsmock where the monogram is so the pleats don't get wonky. Spray starch is AWESOME stuff. Careful construction doesn't take that much longer than slapping the dress together but the results are MILES better. Blocking a straight yoke after smocking is ESSENTIAL for good construction.




This is the back. It's a reverse wrap dress. I covered the buttons so the alligator heads were on them.

Variations on a Theme

There is a lot more you can do with the humble tee shirt dress.

Tee shirt dress with a circle skirt:


Tee shirt dress with a tiered skirt:


Tee shirt dress with a tiered skirt and embellished top:


I've got the pics taken and ready to go to show you how to make these variations. I'll get the instructions up in the next day or so. : )

St. Patty's Day Sew and Tell

I thought the bishop dress deserved it's own post. Here are the other things I've finished up lately:

A bad picture of the bug dress. WG had another round of school pictures last week and this is what she chose to wear. I love that my girl loves bugs and worms but will only wear dresses.


This skirt is from the most recent issue of Ottobre kids. It is CRAZY full. The bottom ruffle was 308 inches long (7 cuts salvage to salvage) before I gathered it. It was like a big fabric intestine. (We deal with too much GI things in this house, can you tell?) I wasn't sure I'd like it because it reminded me a little bit of a pageant dress. Nothing against pageant dresses, but it's not really WG's style. It's really cute on her, though, and she has now decided that all of her shirts need to have her initials. Of course, I haven't been able to get a pic of her in the outfit...


Here is Tim's coat, all finished! He did a great job. (Like my new countertop? He put that in, too!) This is more WG's style: striped leggings, polka dot socks, and a patchwork skirt. I made the skirt by sewing a charm pack into strips and then together. Easy peasy.

Cheap Therapy

This is a special dress for a special girl who is not my daughter. I made this for a friend in Michigan who doesn't know it's coming. Well, maybe she does now. It's my first bishop. I'm a little bit sad to send this dress away because I'm really happy with how it turned out. It makes me want to have a child with a first name starting with M just so they can wear it. At the same time, this dress has been my therapy for the last month and there is something about seeing it finished and sending it on that is quite fitting. 99% of the handwork on this dress was done in doctor's offices. I had just started smocking this dress when I found out I was pregnant. When I started bleeding I took it with me to the ER to work on while I waited. It turned out that my pregnancy was ectopic. Over the next month I had a lot of appointments to deal with that, and this dress came to every one. I find handwork relaxing. My mind wanders as I sew and I often come to solutions to problems while I'm working. In this case I found creating something beautiful for someone else theraputic. I think it's fitting that I've finished up this dress today when we have just been given the green light to try for another baby.

This is also an example of what you can accomplish in 5 minute snippets of time. I sewed the last snap on this morning while waiting for a meeting at the symphony office. Our personnel director saw me and commented that I was always sewing. That is the secret to how I accomplish so (sew?) much.

Simple Tee shirt dress part I

This is really easy, I promise!

(Yup, that is my husband in the picture. He's working on a coat for our daughter. You gotta love a man who is secure enough in his masculinity to sew. He would want you to know, though, that he also fixes sewing machines and does manly things like run electricity, install flooring, and dispose of any dead squirrels our cat brings us. It's all about balance.)

First, gather your materials. You need a tee shirt, about 1/2 a yard of fabric, and the usual notions: pins, iron, marking pen, tape measure, scissors.

Measure the tee shirt against the intended recipient. Does it end past their waist? You may need to cut it off a bit. Don't get too happy with the scissors, you can always cut more off. Aim for where you'd like the top part to end plus about an inch for the seam allowance. The pink shirt was already cut, I added the green for comparison's sake.


To determine how to cut your fabric, measure your recipient from their shoulder to where you'd like the dress to end. Subtract the length of the tee shirt. Add 3. (The three inches break down into 2 added inches for the hem plus one inch at the top for a seam allowance.) Cut the fabric from salvage to salvage. The salvages are the sides of the fabric that are woven and not frayed. When you bought the fabric, they cut it from salvage to salvage. Try to cut straight because it will really simplify your hemming later. For little girls to age 6 or so, a fabric width of 44 inches (which is salvage to salvage) is enough.

Now we're going to sew! Fold the skirt piece in half, right sides of the fabric together so that you are looking at the back of the fabric (not the patterned part). Match up the salvages. Sew it together using at least a 1/2 inch seam allowance, but also make sure that it's wide enough to have the entire salvage to the right of the needle. Unfortunately my camera pooped out so I don't have a picture of this step.

When you sew a seam, sew forward about an inch, then sew backward, and then sew forward to the end of the seam. At the end, sew backward about an inch, then forward to the end of the fabric. This secures the seam.

Press the seam open.


Good job! You're done with part I! Next up is gathering...