Summer dresses

Have you heard or seen the cute little “pillowcase” dresses? They seem to be quite popular and they have been on my bucket list to do for some time now. Enter Damaris’s need for some new Summer dresses.  In full disclosure, I have plenty of material to make something for her.  Enough for, like, 6 years… or something like that. However, I don’t have the time. Even though the dress patterns I have are simple and have been made time and time again, they still require a bit more than an hours worth of work (maybe 2 hours). So…. I was looking for something faster.

That’s where the pillowcase dresses come in. They are apply named, for the original version is made from a pillowcase. There are many tutorials out there on blog land that make use of yardage, but still maintain the look of a pillowcase dress. While I was in Goodwill last week, I saw some pillowcases that I thought would look adorable made up into some dresses for her. And so they found their way into my cart. Does your husband hate it when that happens, too?

I didn’t follow any tutorials, per say, just because that’s how I am (here is a site with several different tutorials for these kinds of dresses, although I think most of them use yardage instead of actual pillowcases).There really isn’t a wrong way to make one. For Damaris, since she is so petite, yet tall, the total length is 27”. From the top of the casing (where the seam of the pillowcase is), I measured 6” down on each side and 2” in for the arm hole, making a “half u” shape. For all but 1 dress, I kept the finished band as the hem. I sewed biased tape around the arm holes, to give them a finished look.

Each of these dresses took me 30 minutes to make. Now that’s what I’m talking about!!

This is the one dress where the band of the pillowcase is on the top. I bought 2 of these pillowcases, so I wanted to make the dresses a bit differently (the other dress was in the wash when we took these pictures) and the other dress has the pink band at the bottom.

These pillowcases were a bit different due to the fact that they each had 6 ties at the opening of the case (to keep he pillow in, I’m guessing). I simple snipped them off and sewed them back on at the desired place. They were already finished and they matched perfectly. I made a casing on the front and back, between the arm holes, and inserted elastic.

This next one has funky, non-strait lines that make for a nice little change.

For the straps, I made a long ribbon on purple and white polka-dot and inserted that into the casing on both the front and the back, tying together on one shoulder. The bow can be on either shoulder and in the front or the back.

 

This pillowcase I have had in my stash for some time and happened upon it while cleaning up the other day. I was still in the “pillowcase dress” mode, so I snatched it for a dress too!

The twill ribbon was done the same way as the striped dress above. And the piping with the lace was already part of the pillowcase. Score!

This dress was from and extra long pillowcase, so I cute off more then from the other ones.

The straps for this one were made from 2 blue ribbons, threaded through the casting and tied at the shoulders. I tacked the ribbons down in the middle of the dress, for both front and back, so the ribbons don’t move around and come out.

She had to pet the bunny!

As you can see, these dresses can be made with tons of variations! If you have a little girl in your life, I’m sure she needs a new Summer dress and what could be easier then these?!

I just wish I could get away with one my size…..

I am linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Can I get a whoop! whoop!, and A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.  Have a great weekend everyone!