now pillowcase dresses are called so
because for a toddler you could make a
little dress from a pillowcase but I'm
going to show you how to make one from
fabric um this little dress would
probably fit around about a oneyear old
what you'll need to do is to measure
your child from the chest where the
dress is going to finish down to the
length that you want probably about knee
length maybe just above and then add 4
Ines to that length and then the width
measure around your child and then add
about 8 in to the width more than that
if you want it to gather that little bit
more and you need a couple of P pieces
of ribbon as well that are long enough
to go all the way around the top of your
Fabric and then tie in bows either side
it's a very quick and easy way to make a
little dress so if you're not a dress
maker but you want to start here's a
good place to
start so I've measured the length that I
want added 4 in to the length um and I'm
going to put a little border across the
bottom of my dress as well just to make
it stand out a little bit so my fabric
measures 15 in square for the green
flower at the top and then 15 in across
by 5 in deep for the border at the
bottom but again you you measure the
fabric against the child that you're
making this for and remember to make
that quite a little bit wider if you
want to have a lot of gathering around
the neckline I've got two pieces of
ribbon and those each measure about a
yard and I will have to cut those down
and I'm just going to put some green
Rick R around the pink section at the
bottom of my
dress so the first thing I need to do is
to sew the pink border onto the flowery
top uh so I'm just going to lay those
two pieces right sides
together and just so straight
across
you could pin this beforehand if you
feel a little more confident doing that
but this is really quite
easy and then do the same with the
second
side
I'll take those and press them in just a
second I like to keep the iron on and
keep pressing things as I go but that's
how we're looking at the moment I'm
going to put the Rick rack on at this
point as
well oh where's the end gone there we go
um and I'm going to stay with my pink
thread I don't mind it being in
pink and I'm just going to go straight
down the center of the Rick
crack so but you could add ribbons you
could maybe use your um embroidery
stitches if you got some fancy stitches
on your
machine or you could leave it
plain
maybe buttons and bows and butterflies
in the ple would look nice as
well that's one
side and I the same on the other side so
to
match
so make sure that's the same distance
I'm just doing that by eye but you could
measure and Mark that if that's easier
for
[Music]
you this is from toddler it could be
maybe some fabric that you've got from
an old outfit of your own or a shirt a
night dress
maybe anything that's
cotton there we
go right so that's the decoration the
next thing I'm going to do is to measure
where the sleeves or the arm holes are
going to go so if I lay my two pieces is
place together the most important thing
when I'm matching them up is that those
two seams match cuz otherwise it's going
to look a little bit odd so I'm going to
start pinning from
there should match
up does match up and I'm going to
measure a 7 in gap for the armhole and
again depending on the size of your
child you can always SE these up a
little bit afterwards if it's too big
but you may want to make that little bit
shorter if it's um a toddler you're
making this for so I'll pin the same on
the other side again starting at that
seam so I know that my my seam is going
to look
good and I'm going to use quite a wide
seam
allowance all
right so if I measure
7 in from the top of either
side that's what I'm going to sew up
to 7 in on that
side and the seam alance is going to be
about an
inch
then I do the same from the other
side and again about an
inch so that's where we are at the
moment what I need to do now is to take
this to the ironing board and I'm going
to press the seam
open I'm going to press back the seam
open all the way around the armhole and
I'm going to fold that under as well so
I've got a nice neat edge around the
armhole it's easy to do to se that after
it's been pressed there so I'll go do
that now there we go so I pressed the
seam open and just pressed the side seam
inwards again so now I'm going to stitch
all the way down across and back up the
other side and that's going to be my
armhole and I do that on on both sides
of
course
way
when I come down to the uh the end of
the row here I'm just going to leave the
needle down so I can pivot this
around and then across the bottom of the
seam I'm going to go backwards and
forwards a couple of times just to
strengthen it it was going to give
anyway when the child puts it on it'll
be under the arms there so it just makes
it that little bit
tougher right down the other
side
and then the same with the other
arm that's already been pressed
remember needle
down across that seam a couple of
times
and back down the other
side okay then I'm going to make the
channel for the ribbon to go in and
that's going to go across the top so I
need to fold over and then fold over
again and just make sure that that
channel is deep enough to actually hold
the ribbon in place and make sure it's
straight so I think we'll put a few pins
in this because I want to make sure that
they're both mat on both sides as
well although remember this is going to
be gathered so if your stitching isn't
perfectly straight or the front and the
back sides don't match up it's not that
important at this stage more important
around the hemline cuz that's the bit
that you are going to see so my ribbon
is about half an inch
wide so the tube or the channel I'm
making here is about an inch so it'll
pull through quite
easily two and then the
same on the other
side I'm try and match those up as as
close as I
can so over once over
twice that'll do
couple more
pens and then just make sure my second
side is as close as I can to the First
on this
side
and then we'll SE straight across
there
[Music]
and the same on the other side and then
that's the top section
finished
now the last thing I need to do is to um
sew up the hemline so if you you got
your your daughter or your granddaughter
whoever you're making this for around
then you can do another measure and just
make sure that the Hem is going to be
the right
length and then I'll take off the
accessory compartment to make it a
little bit easier for this
dress and I'm going to turn up once and
then turn up twice so I've actually
turned it up about an inch all together
and again if you wanted to measure that
and pin it then that's fine but actually
quite easy to do as you go and always
fold a hem up twice and took in any
loose threads because it'll help to stop
the fabric from fraying it looks so much
neater so once
twice and again I'm using my guide for
sewing straight if you like is the side
of the
foot so and know as long as I keep that
line straight my Stitch line will be
straight and it'll good from the
outside nearly done such a quick press
to
make
and then I'm just going to meet up the
Stitch line where I
started and secure and trim off the
loose
threads then finally I put the ribbon
through the channels that I made at the
top of the
dress so I made my safety
pin
go so pop your pin through the
[Music]
end and thread these through the
channels in
oops across the front and across the
back one in
each remember with a ribbon you can cut
that down to size it's better to have it
too long than too short so when you do
pop it on your little girl then you can
cut it down
accordingly I'm just going to trim off
the end of the the ribbon to help stop
it fraying you could seal that with a
the flame if you're
careful and then across the other
side um Alfie is trying to get into my
box of fabrics so that's what the noise
is if you wondering
wait aie come here come here come here
hey come here
come one away from me he does as he
likes Sni across
that and then my little dress is
finished so this look come come here you
can at least say hello come
here there it is I'm trying to find
somewhere comfy to sit aren't
you so again these go across the
shoulders and they tie in a nice big
bow so what you've got is a very quick
little dress that takes what about 20
minutes to make that you can make making
any size that you like that depending on
your skill level you can add to you know
can put your applique on there or maybe
a frill around the bottom and it's a
very affordable way of making little
dress I know a lot of you make these for
Charities and when you see how quick you
can make them then I'm really not
surprised there you
go