Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Spring Style Essentials

Is there anything more versatile for your Spring wardrobe than a T-Shirt Dress and a classic button-up blouse? In this Fabric Mart Fabricista blog, I'm going to show you how these two little wardrobe staples can be rotated through your spring me-made wardrobe for 5 different and fun looks! 


I was browsing the Fabric Mart website when this lovely 100% Cotton Parchment/Black Striped Jersey Knit Fabric popped up. I’ve been itching to make a T-Shirt dress with the Rebecca Page T-Shirt Dress pattern ever since the pattern launched back in February. As I continued to browse the Fabric Mart website, I was struck by the most lovely Blossom Pink Silk Shantung Shirting that I knew would be perfect for a Grainline Studios Archer Button-Up! As the wheels started turning, I realized that the cotton jersey paired with the silk shantung shirting fabric would be a match made in heaven for my me-made wardrobe. So naturally, I had to get both fabrics plus the Archer Button-Up pattern!

I was not disappointed when my Fabric Mart order arrived! The 100% Cotton Striped Jersey Knit Fabric was wonderful because it had a bit of weight to it and was not see-thru or too clingy. I should have bought more of this fabric in different colors while it was still available because it was just so nice! The silk shantung shirting also didn’t disappoint! The color was just as beautiful in person as it was online and I knew my spring fabric dreams were coming true. 

The Rebecca Page T-Shirt Dress pattern was a dream to sew and came together really quickly. The pattern comes with a bunch of options for length, neckline, and style but I chose to make the straight fit, crew neck, knee-length option for my T-Shirt Dress. I had concerns that the straight fit pattern option could end up looking like a body-con dress, which if you know me, you know I’d never wear out in public. To my pleasant surprise, the pattern and the fabric worked perfectly together to create a straight A-line dress silhouette without any of the clinginess that I hate! 

The Archer Button-Up pattern is definitely my favorite button-up shirt pattern that I’ve ever made. I decided to make option B with the lovely back pleats in order to give this shirt an extra chic element (as if Silk Shantung isn’t chic enough!) What I love about this pattern is the fit! While it is semi-fitted in the bust area, it is flowy in the waist and sleeve which is exactly what you want in a Button-Up! 


Armed with my new wonderfully fitting me-made items, I was now ready to dive into making the most of these sews for spring! Below, I’ll share 5 different looks that I made with my new Rebecca Page T-Shirt Dress and my Grainline Archer Button-up blouse. I’m only sharing my top 5 looks with you, but there were countless others I considered sharing as well! For these top 5 looks, I only had to supplement the T-Shirt Dress and Button-Up Blouse staples with a few extra items that can easily be found in the average closet. 

Special thanks to my friend Tiya Steffy from Tiya M Photography for being so willing to help me capture pictures of my makes and for being so patient during my million wardrobe changes! You brought my wardrobe to life! 

Look 1: Casual Saturday

RP T-Shirt Dress, Rifle Paper Co Keds, Kate Spade Crossbody Purse

Look 2: Work From Home

Silk Shantung Archer Button-Up, White Camisole, Dark Denim Skinny Jeans, Leopard Print Ballet Flats

Look 3: Work Meeting

RP T-Shirt Dress, Nude Pumps, Black Sweater Blazer, Dark Grey Pencil Skirt, Trench Coat

Look 4: Holiday Gathering 

RP T-Shirt Dress, Denim Seamwork Zinnia Skirt, Kate Spade Crossbody Purse, Black Block Heeled Sandals 

Look 5: Sunday Brunch

RP T-Shirt Dress, Silk Shantung Archer Button-up, Black Block Heeled Sandals

I hope you were inspired to make your own little T-Shirt Dress and Button-Up for your essential spring wardrobe using delightful Fabric Mart fabrics! Until next time, keep following my sewing journey @shaina_sews and Mainstreetsewingco.com

SHAINA   @shaina_sews 

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: 
COTTON KNITS, JERSEY KNITS, SILK, & SHIRTING
Plus you can shop our collection of Grainline Studio Patterns HERE.

Comments

  1. Love your makes, very well put together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your t-shirt dress. I would not have thought to add a skirt with it, very clever of you. Both of your new wardrobe pieces look great. Thanks for sharing your different looks with us here.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Recent Posts You Might Like

Made by a Fabricista: What to Make with Silk Taffeta

You may have noticed that Fabric Mart has a *HUGE* selection of silk taffeta right now.  A lot of it is either large plaid or large stripes.   I was curious about it, and not really sure what I could make with it, but I just knew it would be gorgeous fabric and had to play around with it.  Turns out, it's actually great for quite a range of projects!  The dress above is my third project. Let me show you the first two. My first was to make some queen size pillow shams.  They are the plaid ones in the back of the photo.  I also made the two printed ones in the center from another Fabric Mart home dec fabric special!  I wanted to make the covers removable with a zipper, and include a braided trim.  As luck would have it, I found a whole card of braided trim at an estate sale that worked with my taffeta for just $2! To start, I used a zipper foot to stitch down the braided trim all around one side of the pillow. Then I serged ...

Made By A Fabricista: Mechanic Chic!

When it comes to buying ready-to-wear garments as a sewist, I only ever spend in three categories: heavy duty winter jackets (life in Maine!), bras… and jumpsuits! I love a good jumpsuit, but unfortunately the ones I used to buy have been impacted by the tariff situation and I can’t get them affordably anymore. This can only mean one thing, folks: it’s time to roll up my sleeves and sew my very first jumpsuit!  When I started planning for this project, I knew I wanted to use a heavyweight linen for cozy comfort in the fall and breathability in the summer. I wanted something that would wear beautifully and soften with age, and something with neutral tones that could go with everything. Naturally, when I came across this 100% linen canvas on Fabric Mart, my heart skipped a beat! I love the ikat-inspired geometry and something about it reminds me of leopard spots too. Bold yet wearable! I am pretty sure this fabric was intended for home decor which I don’t mind at all and in fact of...

Made By A Fabricista: Tried and true summer basics that fit.

Happy Summer Friends! As I am writing this, we are headed into a nasty heat wave…so the timing could not be better to share two of my favorite summer patterns and fabrics.  But first, let me tell you about the fail I had heading into this month’s blog… As Fabricista’s, we get to pick out fabric for each of our blog submissions. I fell in love with this gorgeous lilac jacquard knit that I thought would be perfect for a pop of color in my summer wardrobe. But I made a fatal error - I grabbed a pattern I haven’t made for years, quickly went up one size to account for a few new pounds, and sewed them up. And they don’t fit, will NEVER fit, and will never be worn. Sigh…when will I learn?? Here’s a flat lay pic so we can at least look at the lovely fabric: The lesson I learned (relearned!) is that just like with off the rack clothes, the things that worked well for me years ago don’t work well for me today.  And that’s the case with both tops and bottoms. So I went back to two patt...

A Yard And Change

Do you have a fabric that you love and has been hanging around but is too small to use? Maybe you found a wonderful fabric with a super cute print but there's only a yard left.  I've got a few projects I worked on all with roughly a yard of fabric. And I have a few tips for making that yard and change go further! Cutting Layout: You can get a lot more mileage out of a yard of fabric if you can get creative with how you lay out your fabric. Cutting things single layer will give you the most control. My favorite thing to do is unfold the fabric and fold the selvages in to meet in the middle. That gives me two folded edges to work with. I had to overlap these to get enough width for the tank top. Just make sure that your pattern pieces don't also overlap!  This one was especially fun for me because I really loved the print on this swimwear knit but am not yet up to sewing swimwear. But a nice flowy hiking tank is perfect for this! In the future I'd love to experiment with...