This is the easiest dress ever and takes only ten to twenty minutes from cutout to finish! Even though it is called the pillowcase dress, I actually made this one from a remnant I had. I plan on donating this dress to the Little Dresses for Africa Charity. Here is a link to their website.
This dress is cut to fit a size 2 ( a child about 2 years old). I cut a rectangle 19 by 21 (21 being the length). The pattern on the website is made from an actual pillowcase and does not cut out the armholes, just leaves an unstitched area at the top of each side seam to fold under and stitch for the arm area,( here is a link to the directions for the dress using a pillowcase on the website) I personally do not like the looks of that style, so I cut a wedge about 31/2 inches across at the top and angling down to nothing to the side ( about 4 or 5 inches long). I just eyeballed it, no particular measurements.
With wrong sides together, I serged the side seams with a narrow seam, pressed each side seam and turned right sides together. I pressed from the right side, pressing the seam to one side and stitched the seam encasing the serged edge. No exposed seams!
I finished the edge of the hem with a narrow serged seam and then encased the hem area with bias tape, No Hemming!
Next I enclosed the armhole opening with bias tape, turned to the inside, pressed and stitched into place. I then enclosed the top with bias tape and used it as the casing for the ribbon used for the ties. On this dress I stitched across the ends after gathering the top where I wanted it and then tied the ribbon for the finished product!
Fast, Easy and Cute!
If you are interested in making a dress for Africa, You can click here to find out more information. The address to send finished projects or make a financial donation is; Little Dresses For Africa, 24614 Curtis Drive, Brownstown, MI 48134.
Nancy's Notions also has a link on her site that links to Little Dresses for Africa and several other charities you can sew items for, here is a link to her Sew For A Charity Page. She also has several patterns for easy dresses and even has a quick and easy boys shorts pattern to make and send along with the dresses you make.
Summer is almost here, why not make something special for a child in need?
(By the way, I have been trying to find out where to send dresses for Appalachia and have not been able to find it, if you know anything about this charity, please leave me a comment. I would love to make some dresses for our Appalachian children too!)
Happy Sewing!
