Crafty: Pillowcase Dress

I'd been reading about the pillowcase dress for a couple weeks and I decided to find out what it was all about. A quick Google search and a few pins on Pinterest later, and I had my first pillowcase dress for Muffin complete.

I used the tutorial from Naptime Crafts. For this first one I did not use an actual pillowcase, but I might for the next one. Rather than do side seams, I kept the fabric folded in half from the first cut and made the one seam a center back seam. I like to be able to tell the back from the front easily. I used grosgrain ribbon to finish the armhole edges rather than folding the edges. You could also use bias tape. Since the fabric had a finished border edge, there was no hemming involved!

Center back seam

Eyelet border

I love this quick, easy dress. Since the shoulder ties are adjustable, this will grow with Muffin into a top as she gets taller.

I could easily sew up all my scrap fabric into a whole collection of them. But I'm going to restrain myself. I'll make a few, to experiment with different lengths and trims. There are plenty of different patterns to make with my scraps. (I received more patterns in the mail Friday and already started cutting out a few things!)

Crafty: Christmas Dress

I've got my sew on again, after months (years?) of laying dormant. I made Christmas dresses for Muffin and myself.

I had several parameters for these dresses. I wanted them to match, but not be exactly the same. I wanted to sew with fabrics I already had, so that limited my colors away from red and green. (Too literal for Christmas dresses, anyway.) My inspiration became "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes," from The Sound of Music song, "My Favorite Things."

Muffin's is McCall's 6015. It's made from white and blue cotton shirtings and lined with the white cotton shirting. Mine is an older McCall's that I think is OOP now, 4581. It's white linen lined with white rayon.