Pillowcase dress

Back in the spring of 2001, before I was even married, I bought a Martha Stewart Baby magazine that featured an article on how to make dresses for little girls out of vintage pillowcases. I saved the magazine, hoping that someday I would have a little girl that I could make such a dress for.

A few months ago, I remembered the pillowcase dresses and have been wanting to try one for Maren. I even went so far as to promise to teach how to make them to any of the ladies at church who signed up. Now, you must understand that I don't sew. Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing. But I do have a large amount of faith in myself, which is what led me to offer this class, even though I'd never made one of these dresses myself!

The class is this Thursday night, and today I pulled out one of my thrifted pillowcases just for this purpose and whipped up a dress! Okay, if you consider laboring and sweating over it for two hours "whipping up" anything. I only had to rip out one seam, which for me is not too darn bad. The armholes gave me the most trouble. I have instructions but couldn't make heads or tails out of them, so I improvised. My seams are wobbly, and my armholes are a little bunchy, but once I put the ribbon in the casings and gathered up the top that all disappeared. I think it turned out pretty cute, after all! The pillowcase had the ruffled edge on it to begin with. I suspected it would be a nice detail and I was right. As soon as I finished the ribbon, I put it on Maren. It fits perfectly! I guessed on the measurements and luckily, I was right on. I think she'll be wearing this tomorrow, but I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her this afternoon. My fit model: