Remember that one time I told you all if I had a little girl, she’d wear pillowcase dresses? I dug through my fabric scraps this weekend and I’m finally making good on my word.
Well, I did make her that one for my 30th birthday last year when she was itty bitty, but now she has two more!
I followed my original Pillowcase Dress Tutorial (found here), but made a couple changes. Mainly, I wised up and bought some bias tape for the arm holes.
ONE MILLION TIMES EASIER THAT WAY, PEOPLE.
Since the tutorial is a few years old and I made some small changes to it. I’m going to re-post it here, but, if you’d like to refer back to the original tutorial, or you want to see how to do this without bias tape, check out the first post.
Pillowcase dress tutorials are not hard to find online. There are hundreds, or… I don’t know… maybe thousands? I looked high and low for the easiest one I could find. I ended up mainly following one from AndersonsPlace.net. A few months after finding it, a friend asked for a link to the tutorial, and when I went to send it to her I noticed the link was dead. It hasn’t come back up since, and AndersonsPlace appears to be blank. Luckily, I printed out the tutorial long ago and it’s still readable.
I’ve just typed out the tutorial below based pretty closely on what I printed off from AndersonsPlace.net with a few changes of my own. If anyone from that website reads this, please contact me! I’m not trying to rip you off, and would LOVE to give credit. It was such an easy, helpful tutorial that I think it needs to be accessible again. The photos that I’m using are mine.
I always start with a yard of fabric and have never actually used a real pillowcase for one, but you can do it either way.
If you are using a pillowcase, cut it off, leaving the hemmed end, based on these measurements:
6 months -14 1/4″
12 months – 16 1/4″
18 months – 17 1/4″
2T 18 1/4″
3T 19 1/4″
4T 20 1/4″
If you are staring with a yard of fabric, cut it to the length specified above, and a width of 28″ for 6 months, up to 33″ for 4T (adding one inch in width for each size up). This, however, can really be based on your own judgement, depending on how wide you want/need the dress to be on the girl.
You will also need some bias tape in a color that coordinates with your fabric… you know, if you want to save a little time and sanity. (Got this stuff at Walmart. It’s not hard to find or expensive.)
Fold up half an inch along the bottom of the large piece of fabric (will be the bottom of the dress), press with iron, and fold again. Stitch along the top fold to hem.
Fold the fabric vertically (lengthwise), right sides together, pin and stitch 1/2 inch from un-joined edge to create a tube of fabric.
(Since this is a crazy long, picture heavy post, please click through from my home page here to read the rest. Thanks!)