Saturday, January 08, 2011

Pillowcase Dress

I love the look of these dresses and finally decided to make one. I didn't have any pillowcases that were cute enough to use for a dress that I was willing to cut up. So I just picked some fabric from my stash, sewed a tube, and hemmed the bottom. This is approximately size 6, but could easily fit a smaller girl due to the adjustable straps. It would end up a couple inches below her knee instead of right at the knee like the rest of my size 4 and 5 dresses. It could also be used by bigger girls as a top or over pants. The adjustable straps are about 10" long so there's a lot of room for growth.

I used these directions that I found from a swagbucks search. Her instructions are really easy to follow. (I copied them into a Word document if anyone's interested so it prints out on only 1 page.)

Traditional pillowcase dresses make a casing on the top front and top back and thread the ties through these casings. This can create a strangulation hazard, however, so I like her way of doing it better. She inserts an elastic into each casing, sewing it in place at each end. Then either make a casing for each armhole and thread the ties through the casings or sew on double fold bias tape, extending by 10" at each end to make the ties.

I didn't bother to print out the instructions so by mistake I made the elastics 9" each instead of 6". I think it works anyways (I'm certainly not about to rip it out to fix it!)



I feel like it needs something. Maybe I should have enclosed the hem in the double fold bias tape too? Or does the fabric have enough detail that the dress doesn't need anything else added to it?

I also made a sewing apron which turned out awesome. I'll take pics and post soon.

p.s. I do not take credit for the colour of my kitchen wall. That was our landlord's mother's choice. Definitely not mine.

1 comment:

Squaw Creek Ranch said...

Hello Anna, I hate that I have to leave a comment on your blog, but I can't figure out another way ;) YES! The book I speak about on my blog is best for a family when they have 1-3 children. If only I had it in the beginning. You are welcome to email me if you'd like. jarskifamily at gmail dot com. All my children are sitting at the breakfast table singing the song I Can Only Imagine playing on your blog, lol, so it looks like I will sit here for a minute. Nice *meeting* you.