My inspirations? HEre. I love the simple look of it. I have had these pillowcases for about a year. I got them from my mom. They were my grandmother's. Right when I saw them, I knew I wanted to make dresses out of them but wasn't loving the styles I was seeing. So after I saw that dress, I was set. Then I saw this and that gave me a push to get going on it!
Are you ready for this?
Can a tutorial have too many pictures because this might take the cake...
Triple Ruffles Pillowcase Dress Tutorial:
Supplies:
-scissors
-Sewing machine with thread
-iron and ironing board
-invisible marker or something to mark on fabric.
-Pillowcase
-Cutting Mat, ruler and cutting roller(? what's the official name for this?)
Step one: put your pillowcase inside out.
Step 2: grab a dress of desired length and mark that. If you have a decorative edge like mine did, then you measure from that. Otherwise, measure from the top so you can take advantage of the edge.
Step 3: grab your ruler and cutter and cut your length.
Step 4: Fold in half, hotdog style, and draw how you want your dress to be. I tried to be as simple as possible. I didn't want to mess with sleeves so I included them in the main part. I apologize for the horrible picture but there are some slight marks on the fabric where I guesstimated where I would want her armpit, top of the sleeve and the collar.
**make sure you leave enough room for their chest. The fabric I used wasn't stretchy so it was tight to get on. It worked fine but I would have cut it wider. And most pillow cases aren't stretchy so leave room for that***
**make sure you leave enough room for their chest. The fabric I used wasn't stretchy so it was tight to get on. It worked fine but I would have cut it wider. And most pillow cases aren't stretchy so leave room for that***
Step 5: Cut out your dress. You want to make sure you make room for 1/2 inch margin for sewing!
Step 6: Open it up and check to make sure it looks even and good.
Step 7: Cut 3-4 inches or so on the back side of the dress so your daughter's head will fit into the dress. I learned out to do this HERE. She also has a very adorable dress!
Step 8: Now onto the sleeves and collar of the dress. At the armpit, you want to cut about 1/2 inch or whatever your margin will be.
Step 9: Go to the ironing board. Press your sleeves back. Once they are all pressed, pin them.
Step 10: Do the same with the collar. Since the collar turns, it helps to cut notches (see pic for what I mean)
Step 11: Sew the sleeve cuff and collar
Alright, now onto the dress part!
Step 11: Lay out your dress and iron it, making sure it's all lined up and smooth.
Step 12: pin the dress together. Then sew it together on the sides and shoulder.
Step 13: Now onto the back closure. Cut out a strip about 2 inches by how long your cut on your closure is...and add about an inch.
Step 13: Now when that's cut out, iron it flat then fold it in half hot dog style.
Step 14: Open it up and then fold up one half up to the middle. Then to that to the other half.
Step 14: Then fold it in half again with the folds tucked in and then press with iron.
Step 15: Oops, forgot to fold one edge in! Press one half in!
Step 16: Next, fold over the closure in the back. Tuck the dress in between the strip and pin.
Step 17: Start with the folded edge and sew. When you get to the end, leave about 1/2 inch and stop. Trim the excess strip and fold and tuck in. Then sew and do a backwards stitch!
Done with that for now!
Step 18: Next onto the Ruffles. Take the extra fabric that was cut off at the beginning and cut it into 3 equal strips.
**Edit**
Either put on Anti-Fray stuff or hem the sides for the ruffle strips. 1 wash and there was lots of thread!
**Edit**
Either put on Anti-Fray stuff or hem the sides for the ruffle strips. 1 wash and there was lots of thread!
Step 19: We are doing a basting stitch so just do a stitch down the middle.
Step 20: Don't do any backward stitching on this. Pull at the top thread and gather!
Step 21: Do that with all three and pin to dress where you want them to go!
Step 22: Once you are happy of the placement, then sew down the middle. Do backward stitching at the beginning and end.
Step 23: Now the last step is to secure the closure in the back.
I took the easy route and grabbed some heat-activated velcro. It is so easy to use and makes things easy!
I trimmed the right size then applied it onto the dress. Follow instructions on the box to adhere to the dress.
There you go! Nice and secure :)
And there's the dress! I LOVE how it turned out really. It's perfect for Spring & Summer coming up. I hope this tutorial makes sense and will be fun for you too!
