Good morning, friends!
I feel like I have already shared this dress with you as it’s been in constant rotation ever since I made it. This dress is definitely a summer wardrobe staple, even though summer has not officially arrived yet!
Source: Butterick Patterns
For this dress, I used Butterick 6333, a new princess seam shirt dress pattern in View A with a pleated skirt.
My fabric is Italian cotton gingham shirting that I purchased from Piedmont Fabric in Oakland. It’s the most beautiful gingham that I’ve sewn with and as I had been wanting some gingham in this color, I was happy to see it at Piedmont, and a plus was that it was in a cut pile, so it was discounted and also had enough yardage for a shirt dress. This fabric has some black threads woven through it, which I didn’t notice until I started sewing with it. The black gives this dress a little more interest.
I graded this pattern up to about a size 26W (it goes up to 24W), did a swayback adjustment, and added about an inch in length to the skirt whilst sewing a narrow hem. I made self binding to finish the armholes and added thread belt loops to keep my belt at my waist.
I basted the bodice pieces together to check the fit before I sewed the princess seams. I decided not to make this dress fitted as I wanted a looser fit to be more comfortable in the heat. I have about 4″ of ease in this dress and it resembles a Grainline Alder shirt dress when on the hanger. I definitely need a belt to pull it in and fit better, but when it’s in the 100’s, I’ll gladly be wearing this sans belt and the loose fit will be welcome in the heat.
My looser fit gives me back pooling even with the swayback adjustment
I matched ALL of the gingham. It gave me a headache.
This dress was an easy make and I would have breezed through it had I not had an abundance of pattern matching. I love the bias cut gingham on the button band and collar. It adds an interesting detail, plus I didn’t have to do more gingham matching.
Initially, I was going to add yellow buttons on this dress as per the consensus amongst my IG friends. I had yellow on my mind when I went shopping at my closest JoAnn’s, but the only suitable yellow buttons had only one card left, so I went with these blue pearl-ish buttons instead. I actually prefer this, as I can change up the colors of my accessories, which probably wouldn’t have worked so well with yellow buttons. BTW: JoAnn’s has a terrible button selection now, especially if you’re trying to find enough for a shirtdress!
I actually look somewhat stylish in this dress as both gingham and shirtdresses appear to be “in”. The good thing for me is that there’s more gingham fabric to choose from and more shirtdress patterns. I actually just made two more gingham dresses and will be starting on another shirtdress soon….
Happy Sewing!
- Dress: Butterick 6333 in blue Italian cotton gingham shirting, made by me
- Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
- Belt: Amazon
- Sunglasses: Modcloth
- Earrings: Luxulite
Holly D says
March 17, 2017 at 12:53 pmThere is a shirt dress contest on IG that starts soon, and I searched CSC for some ideas. I found this Butterick 6333 there, searched online for reviews for this pattern and found your post. I really love everything about this, plus the looseness for sitting…or heat. I have not sewn ANY garments for myself yet, but I am hoping I can accomplish this. Thanks for the tips and inspiration. I love your styling too.
tanyamaile says
March 18, 2017 at 7:45 amThanks, Holly! I wear this dress all the time in the warm months. It really is great for the heat and so comfortable and easy to wear.
Annette Green says
June 18, 2016 at 9:59 pmAmazing job. thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Pamela Newberry says
June 4, 2016 at 6:45 amYou did a beautiful job on this! Love the bias button band…
Mother of Reinvention says
June 1, 2016 at 12:35 pmWhat an absolutely glorious dress. The gingham look really fresh and it looks very cool, in both senses of the word. Xx
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:01 pmThank you! Someone in a store actually described me as being “fresh” when I was wearing this one day. 🙂
kathyh says
June 1, 2016 at 7:14 amFab summer dress.
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:01 pmThanks, Kathy!
Kaitlyn MacDonnell says
May 31, 2016 at 10:54 pmThis is the perfect summer dress, looks great on you, and especially love the red accessories
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:01 pmThank you, Kaitlyn! Blue and red are definitely great together!
LoisAnn says
May 31, 2016 at 5:35 pmYou were meant for this dress. You look absolutely gorgeous. I have got to get some gingham.
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:02 pmThanks, Lois Ann! Gingham is so wonderful. I especially like the versions with larger checks. I made a large pink gingham dress recently which I’ll share soon. 🙂
Kate Bell says
May 31, 2016 at 4:58 pmYou matched all the gingham? Tanya, you’re insane! But in a good way because I think it was worth it. The dress is beautiful and you have me rushing out to go buy that pattern!
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:03 pmI have to tell you that I felt pretty darn insane choosing a princess seam pattern for this fabric, but it worked out. My eyes were not very happy with that choice! lol!
Cari Homemaker says
May 31, 2016 at 3:19 pmBeautiful dress, and great job on matching all that gingham.
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:03 pmThanks, Cari! I don’t think I’ll do any more princess seams (or gored skirts) with gingham for a long time.
Carlee McTavish says
May 31, 2016 at 12:53 pmBeautiful! I prefer the blue buttons too. Love the earrings 🙂
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:04 pmThanks, Carlee! The earrings are my fave. I have some fabric coming that will match them. 🙂
Robin Michael Rush says
May 31, 2016 at 10:41 amSuch a gorgeous summer dress-cool and (looks like) comfy!
tanyamaile says
June 1, 2016 at 1:04 pmThank you, Robin! It really is comfy and cool!