Every year, Chicago Sews chooses a project that gives us a reason to learn something new, stretch our skills, and spend a little more time sewing together.
From the couture-inspired French jackets of our 2023 sew-along, to #WeSewBombers in 2024 and last year’s Trenched in Style, each project has given our community a different way to approach garment sewing together.
For 2026, we’re turning our attention to a garment that may look simple at first glance but offers almost endless possibilities: the shirt and shirtdress.
Welcome to The Shirt/Dress — Chicago Sews’ 2026 Sew-Along!
Whether you choose a crisp button-front shirt, an oversized layer, a classic shirtwaist dress, or a dramatic floor-length shirtdress, this year’s theme leaves plenty of room to make the project your own.
The Appeal of the Shirt/Dress
Few garments are as familiar—or as adaptable—as the shirt.
Collars, cuffs, button plackets, yokes, pockets, and carefully finished seams give us plenty of opportunities to build our sewing skills. Extend that same design language into a dress, and the possibilities grow even further.
For this year’s sew-along, that means there is no single “correct” Shirt/Dress.
You might choose:
- A beginner-friendly project with a relaxed fit, simple collar, or minimal shaping.
- An intermediate project with cuffs, a collar stand, patch pockets, a shaped hem, or more involved fitting.
- An advanced project featuring detailed shirtmaking, precision plackets, complex tailoring, or a highly structured shirtdress.
You can sew a shirt. You can sew a dress. You can make something tailored, oversized, vintage-inspired, contemporary, understated, or wonderfully dramatic.
The common thread is the language of the shirt—and what you decide to do with it.
A Little Fashion History
The shirtdress has been reinvented for generations.
Its story is closely connected to the tailored shirt and the shirtwaist, which became an important part of women’s wardrobes around the turn of the twentieth century. As fashion and women’s lives changed, those familiar shirt details began appearing in one-piece dresses as well.
The silhouette has changed repeatedly since then: practical shirtwaist dresses, full-skirted mid-century versions, safari-inspired styles, minimalist interpretations, oversized dresses, and modern designs that play freely with proportion and fabric.
That longevity is part of what makes the Shirt/Dress such an interesting project. We’re working with a familiar garment, but there is still plenty of room to make something unmistakably our own.
We’ll explore more of that history—and plenty of inspiration—at our sew-along kickoff.
Looking Back
Sew-alongs have become one of the ways Chicago Sews brings our community together around a shared challenge.
Our first major sew-along in 2023 centered on the French jacket, a project that invited participants to spend time with couture-inspired construction, careful handwork, and techniques that many of us might not otherwise have attempted on our own.
In 2024, we shifted gears with #WeSewBombers, a collaboration with We Sew Austin that showed just how differently one garment could be interpreted. Participants brought their own fabric choices, details, proportions, and personalities to the bomber jacket, reinforcing something we’ve come to love about sewing together: a shared theme never produces identical results.
Then, in 2025, Trenched in Style took us into another classic piece of outerwear. The trench coat gave participants room to explore everything from simplified versions to more traditional tailoring details, while our virtual and in-person gatherings gave us space to work through those projects together.
With The Shirt/Dress, we’re continuing that progression.
Each year has asked something a little different of us: precision and patience with the French jacket, interpretation and individuality with the bomber, structure and tailoring with the trench. This year, the shirt and shirtdress give us a chance to focus on the details that make everyday garments special—collars, cuffs, plackets, buttons, pockets, fit, and finishing—while still leaving plenty of room for creativity.
The project changes from year to year.
The reason we do it stays the same: to learn, make, and spend time sewing together.
What to Expect
This year, you’ll have several opportunities to sew with us both virtually and in person.
September 25 — Announcement
We’ll begin sharing sew-along information and inspiration as everyone starts planning their projects.
October 9 — The Shirt/Dress Kickoff | Virtual
Our official start. We’ll talk history, inspiration, project choices, fabric, and what to expect throughout the sew-along.
October 17 — BYOM/Open Sew | In Person
Bring your own machine or hand project and spend some dedicated sewing time with the Chicago Sews community.
October 24 — Frockroom Sewing Session | Virtual
Join us online for a relaxed work session. Cut, fit, sew, troubleshoot, or simply enjoy some company while you work.
November 6 — Sip & Sew Check-In | Virtual
We’ll check in on everyone’s progress during our regular Sip & Sew. As always, you are welcome to join us even if you aren’t participating in the sew-along.
November 7 — Frockroom Sewing Session | Virtual
Another chance to get together online and make progress on your project.
November 14 — BYOM/Open Sew | In Person
Bring your project for another afternoon of community sewing as we move toward the finale.
December 5 — Finale Luncheon | In Person
We’ll close out the sew-along together. Wear your finished Shirt/Dress if it’s ready—or bring your work in progress. Either way, come celebrate with us.
Sew What You Want to Wear
One of our favorite things about this theme is the amount of creative freedom it gives us. Maybe you’ve been wanting to perfect the fit of a classic button-up. Maybe there is a vintage shirtdress pattern sitting in your stash waiting for the right excuse. Maybe you want an oversized linen shirt, a denim utility dress, a swishy rayon maxi, or something completely unexpected.
A pattern is only the starting point. Your fabric, fit decisions, construction choices, alterations, and personal style are what turn it into your Shirt/Dress.
And if you’re still deciding between several patterns? You’re be in good company.
Why Join the Sew-Along?
A sew-along gives us something a pattern envelope can’t: people to sew with.
It offers:
- Accountability: Sometimes having a date on the calendar is exactly what gets a long-planned project started.
- Skill-building: Collars, cuffs, plackets, buttonholes, fitting, pockets—there is plenty to learn or practice.
- Inspiration: Seeing how other sewists interpret the same theme can send your own project in an entirely new direction.
- Community: Whether this is your first garment or your fiftieth, you have something to contribute to the room.
And remember: this is a sew-along, not a race.
Our schedule gives us opportunities to gather; it does not dictate how quickly you need to sew.
Not finished by December 5? Come anyway.
Not Making a Shirt or Shirtdress?
That’s okay.
Just as with our previous sew-alongs, you are still welcome at our regular community events. Bring whatever you’re working on and sew alongside us.
The project gives us a theme.
The real point is connection.
Stay in the Loop
We’ll be sharing additional resources, inspiration, reminders, and sew-along updates throughout the season.
Follow along through:
- Instagram & Facebook: Watch for inspiration, updates, and community progress.
- Meetup: RSVP for upcoming Chicago Sews events and receive event reminders.
- The Frockroom: During designated sew-along sessions, join us online for dedicated community sewing time.
- This post: We’ll update this page with additional sew-along information and resources as they become available.
Bookmark it and check back throughout the fall.
Final Thoughts
A shirt might be one of the most familiar garments in our closets, but sewing one reminds you just how much design and craftsmanship can be packed into something that looks effortless.
The shirtdress takes those same ideas and gives us even more room to play.
That makes The Shirt/Dress exactly the kind of project we love for a Chicago Sews sew-along: recognizable enough to feel approachable, technically interesting enough to teach us something, and flexible enough that no two finished garments need to look alike.
So pull out your patterns. Start thinking about fabric. Decide whether this is finally the year you conquer the collar stand—or make the dramatic shirtdress you’ve been imagining.
We can’t wait to see what you make.
