One of the charities we like to donate to is Little Dresses for Africa (littledressesforafrica.org). For Oct - Dec we will be focusing on making as many of these little pillowcase dresses as we can! In addition, we will be having a sale in our store - BOGO - Buy One, Gift One! The dresses will be listed in pairs, you can buy one for your child or a child you know and the other in the set will be sent to the charity. Of course, you can choose to have both sent to the charity as well.
We thought you might be interested in how to make these little dresses. First, take a pillowcase and cut out the arm hole area (not shown and the pattern is at the little dresses site). Next make a casing for the elastic at the neckline.
Run the elastic threw the casing which will gather the front and back of the dress to help fit the girl as well as look fashionable.
Run the elastic threw the casing which will gather the front and back of the dress to help fit the girl as well as look fashionable.
Next step is to put binding along the armhole area and extend the binding out both sides (at the time) as a tie.
You can also fold over this edge and sew it down and run the binding for ties thru the neck casing instead of using the elastic.
You can also fold over this edge and sew it down and run the binding for ties thru the neck casing instead of using the elastic.
We wanted to dress up our dresses with a pocket so here we were trying to pick out a pair of pockets that would coordinate (we wanted the dresses to look a bit different).
We have so many choices from so many pretty fabric scraps thanks to our local scrap exchange (scrapexchange.org). Wonderful place!!
We have so many choices from so many pretty fabric scraps thanks to our local scrap exchange (scrapexchange.org). Wonderful place!!
Hem the top of the pocket and then iron down the sides and the bottom of the pocket. Choose where you want the pocket to be and then sew along the sides and bottom. We choose to offset the pocket to one side.
The little dresses site asks for minimal additions to the dress due to the fact it will be so hard to replace lace and buttons but they do recommend a pocket! Who doesn't like a pocket?
The little dresses site asks for minimal additions to the dress due to the fact it will be so hard to replace lace and buttons but they do recommend a pocket! Who doesn't like a pocket?
One pair is complete! You can see how nice they look together. We started with a pair of identical pillowcases but as you can see, just by using a different scrap of fabric for the pockets, we have two different outfits! Our hope is that these little dresses will brighten a little girl's day and bring some joy to her life.
If you have any questions, comments or donations, let us know! Thanks for reading! Millie & Kristina
http://www.etsy.com/listing/87552379/pillow-case-dress-child-size-buy-1-gift
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82506132/pillow-case-dress-child-size-buy-1-gift
If you have any questions, comments or donations, let us know! Thanks for reading! Millie & Kristina
http://www.etsy.com/listing/87552379/pillow-case-dress-child-size-buy-1-gift
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82506132/pillow-case-dress-child-size-buy-1-gift