The Pillowcase Dress

I stumbled across some directions to make pillowcase dresses when I was online the other day. Immediately I thought I had to give it a go as it fit all my criteria for sewing, quick and economical.

My two main points of reference were:
http://www.andersonsplace.net/sewing/pillow_case_dress.htm
http://www.jenleheny.com/archives/158

I went down to the Op (thrift) shop and got some old (vintage) pillowcases for 50c each. I also got a jar of buttons for $2 and bags of material remnants. I have sorted my buttons into sets in little plastic baggies which may have been a tad obsessive but, when I want to make something they will be right there!

By the time I got home I really only liked one of the three pillowcases. I decided to try first on a flimsy green one. I got the general idea of it and decided to move onto the one I like. The fabric is a thick cotton with a fully stitched hem. I used bright orange contrasting thread that I had gotten in a sewing fair goodie bag.

To start with I made a traditional full length dress with ribbon ties. There were a couple of problems with this. The first was that Ava kept tripping over the bottom. The second was that she complained the gathered neck was "hurting her" and lastly her Dad said ribbon ties were too fiddly when he was in a rush. So I completely reworked it. I stiched elastic into the necklines and made permanent straps. I just hand stitched the straps on, but I used the wrong needle and it bent in two! The finished results are below.



I'm still thinking I might elasticize under the arms as well, but I may be overly obsessive. I couldn't get a front on view, but it looks very sweet. Not bad for 50c and some elastic. I'm happy.

I found some 2 hour patterns when I was cleaning up, so I might start top and short set for her now.