Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

Happy New Year! And with the new year, I've decided to take care of some unfinished business. I had promised a Pillowcase Dress tutorial, and here it is! I finally finished it and am really excited to share it with you. Hopefully you'll be inspired to sew one of your own, maybe even get some friends together and have a sewing party!

This pillowcase dress tutorial was originally designed for the Little Dresses for Africa event that was hosted by Emily from Mothers, Daughters. This is a very basic tutorial for the beginner sewer!

You only really need buy two things: a pillowcase, and two yards of double fold bias tape!

click HERE for a pdf of the tutorial. Thank you wordpress for supporting pdf uploads.


THE PILLOWCASE DRESS TUTORIAL
Materials:

1 pillowcase 

2 yards double bias tape 

All-purpose thread 

Fabric Scissors 

Armhole Template (courtesy of Nancy’s Notions) 

Straight pins

Steps:


1. On the pillowcase, there will be a sewn end, and an open, hemmed, end. Cut off 2.5” at the sewn end. Reserve the scrap.


2. Measure the length of the pillowcase and make note of the size you are making: Small = 16”-22”, Medium = 24”-28”, Large = 30” - 34”


3. Fold the pillowcase in half lengthwise, lining up the long edges. Pin the armhole template (using the correct size) to your pillowcase, lining up the “fold line” with the long edges of the pillowcase. Cut. Unfold to have armholes cut on both sides.

4. Choose one side to be your “front”. Set your stitch length to the longest setting and sew across the “front” top edge using a ½” seam allowance. Sew another row 1/8” below that. Do not backstitch at either end.


5. Grab the two bottom threads and gently pull to gather the fabric. Adjust to the length you need: 6” for small, 7” for medium, 8” for large.

6. Press the ruffles with the iron so it’s flat and easier to work with.

7. Cut the 2.5” scrap into two equal lengths.

8. Pin the scrap to the wrong side of the ruffle edge, raw edges lining up.

9. Reset your stitch length. Stitch the scrap to the dress using a 1/2” seam allowance. Back stitch at each end. Trim the excess scrap fabric.


10. Flip the scrap piece to the front of the dress. Pin, ensuring you are covering any stitching from the ruffles.

11. Edgestitch the scrap to the dress.

12. Repeat on the top “back” edge.
13. Cut two 1 yard pieces of double fold bias tape. Optional: open the tape, and turn the ends under ¼” on each end; press or pin closed.
14. Open the bias tape and mark the ½ yard point on the bias tape with a pin. Pin to the armpit fold of the dress. Wrap the bias tape around the raw edge of the armhole and repin to hold in place.


15. Continue encasing the bias tape over the raw edge of your armhole. Ensure you’ve pinned through all layers: both sides of the bias tape as well as the pillowcase.



16. Stitch the entire length of the bias tape closed.


17. Repeat on the other armhole using the remaining 1 yard of bias tape.

18. Your pillowcase dress is complete! Feel free to add any embellishment to the dress!

Read more...

Pillowcase Dresses

Those of you who know me well, know of my intense love for jokes -- the terrible ones.

So here's a great one to kick-start this post:

"Corduroy Pillowcases Make Headlines!"

This past weekend was the Little Dresses for Africa event. Emily (and hubby) did a fantastic job of organizing the event, with close to 30 participants sewing dresses from pillowcases! Jenn and I were so glad to be helping out. We taught several newbie sewers the ins and outs of the basic sewing machine and then they each created a beautiful dress from a basic pillowcase!

It took a little while to get the hang of things, but a super-size thank-you to all the great ladies that came out! Your patience, enthusiasm and dedication were most appreciated!



The room was beautifully decorated with tissue paper pom poms and the cutest little "trim station" with multicoloured ribbons, thread, trim etc. The snack station was overflowing with delicious treats: cookies, rum cake, cream puffs, mini muffins.

Emily made the cutest little "button" shortbread cookies as thank you favours.



I'm going to clean up the tutorial that I developed for the class and make a link available on the site! You can sew your own pillowcase dress and send it to Little Dresses For Africa, and maybe even use the tutorial to sew a summery tank top for yourself ;)

Read more...

Little dresses for Africa

My dear friend, Emily, is hosting a wonderful event: Little Dresses for Africa.

It's a sewing event where you can learn some basic sewing techniques, sew a super cute little girl's dress using a pillowcase, bedazzle it to your liking, and then donate it to Africa. Did I mention there will be delicious baked goods?

Jenn and I will be teaching the sewing workshops! For more information, click on the image below. No sewing experience necessary!

Read more...

Simply Mad

I mentioned in a previous post about an event I was attending that supports microfinancing. The money went towards financial services (i.e. microloans) for people in Ecuador to alleviate poverty. Very similar to Kiva.

I think it's such a great concept; Dustin and I have a loan through Kiva to help someone in Nicaragua buy new tires for his taxi. He's already started repaying the loan, so we can now lend that money to someone else.

The other great thing about this event was the theme: Mad Men. Dressing up is always fun. Dressing up in 1960s clothing? Super extra fun! What a great fashion era.

Let's pretend for a little bit that I didn't have a full time job.

I would have ordered this pattern:

and purchased this fabric:

and then sewn myself a super cute dress for the occasion so I could humbly boast about how I made it myself.

But I had zero time to do all those things. I was destined for this: (which I would have copied, printed, and ironed onto an old tshirt.)

Thanks to my housemate, I had a pretty dress to wear because she picked up an extra dress from Kensington Market. Ain't she sweet?!

The event was so much fun! Thanks to Jenn and friends for organizing!

Read more...

And the winner is...

Thanks everyone for sharing about all your favourite charities and good-causes.

We've got some sponsor children, Kiva, Power to Change, Opportunity International Canada, local churches, Canadian Blood Services, WWF, retirement homes, the homeless: you guys are awesome!!!

And the winner is:

Comment #6 is Mrs Niles!!!! My brother, Kirk, played witness.

Thanks so much for all the great comments! Hope you like the bag, Mrs Niles. You sound like someone who would like crafty bags!

Shoot me an email at donewellblog[at]gmail.com and I'll mail you your brand new quilted make up bag!

Read more...

Give it up!

Happy Tuesday! How's your day so far? My day started terribly: it took me one hour to travel 5 km of HWY 401. Not fun. So now I'm blogging to brighten my day, and maybe yours, too!!!

Today I will host my very first giveaway! I know, there are maybe 5 of you that read this blog on a regular basis, but you're the ones that I want to win anyway ;)

Let me start by telling you about my most recent birdie sling. While I was at the crafty cottage getaway, Isabelle asked if I would be interested in donating one of my birdie slings for a silent auction fundraiser. Most of you know that I have a special place in my heart for theatre (especially musical theatre), so when I found out that this was a fundraiser to support Theatre Smash (a Toronto-based independent theatre company) I was thrilled to be a part of it.

Picking the fabrics for this bag was especially exciting because I had zero criteria. I just waited for something to catch my eye and went from there! the workroom had just received a bunch of new fabric, including Sew Chick! for Bernartex. I paired it with Alexander Henry's Haunted House in green, and a funky coffee cups pattern by Suzy Ultman for the lining.

I can't attend the event, but if you're looking for something to do on Sunday evening, the Theatre Smash Bash is happening in downtown Toronto. You can bid on my birdie sling!

Now the exciting part. With the leftover fabric, I made a cute little makeup bag and will give it away to one of my readers! (That's you!)

The contest is simple. Leave me a comment about a good cause that you've supported recently, in the near future, or something that's ongoing. I've already blogged about a few things I'm involved with: The Hair Dare, my community church, Canadian Blood Services, and now Theatre Smash. I'm also attending another fundraiser this Friday to support a microfinance charity (more on that later!).

What kinds of things do you support? I'll select a winner at random and then announce it on Monday, February 14th [contest closed: see winner here].

Just a small thank you to acknowledge nice things that people do. And boys: Valentine's Day is coming, so don't think this isn't a great prize for you, too!

Read more...

So Long, Farewell

It's winter. It's cold and dry. I wear a scarf. I wear lipgloss.

My hair has gotten so long, it strangles me when I try to put on a scarf.

My hair has gotten so long, some of it always manages to stick to my lipgloss.

My winter mornings leave me strangled, with a mouthful of hair for breakfast.

Do not fret! (I remind myself.) It is for a good cause! I have taken The Hair Dare.

On March 14th, I will donate at least 10 inches of hair to be made into wigs for children. It's sad when kids have conditions that cause hair loss (some or all) and it would make me so happy to say farewell to my long, long hair, knowing it will go to such a great cause.

My friend, Grace, is organizing this wonderful event; she's even secured a location for the after-party where friends and family can come and see the reveal!

What 'do will I sport? I'll probably go back to my early years. circa 1983. Barrettes are making a comeback.

If you are interested in being a fellow Hair Dare Devil please contact Grace via the website!

Read more...

Zippidy Doo Dah!

The zippered pouch: a great way to use up some leftover fabric scraps!

Our church had a craft sale last week and I decided that I should try and use some of the scraps leftover from birdie sling bags and other projects.

There are so many tutorials online for making zippered pouches; I started with this one and then made my own adjustments (like a small rounded gusset so the pouches weren't so flat.) They turn out so great and take under and hour from start to finish!

Read more...

Bloody Generous Friends

Since I first posted about my Grandma Initiative, it's been so exciting to hear about all the donations being made on behalf of my grandma. Such generous people!

I didn't realize it, but when donating blood in honour of someone, Canadian Blood Services can actually put the donation in writing!

From grandma initiative

Such a moving thing: donating in honour of someone. How I wish I could do it.

Thank you, Steve, Mymy, and Andrew.

From grandma initiative

Dustin was donating on and off for a while now. Since the Grandma Initiative, he's been donating regularly. Two weeks ago, he made his tenth donation!

From grandma initiative

I wonder how high the numbers go on the pins? If Dustin can donate every two months (approximately) that's 6 donations a year, so in five years, he could have a pin that says 40!

Thanks to everyone who donated as part of the Grandma Initiative! If you've donated as part of this initiative and haven't already sent me a quick note: please do! I've estimated that the number of donations to this initiative is something like a dozen. Half way to my goal!

Read more...