Vintage Pillow Case Dresses

The birds outside my window are chirping, there is a  breeze blowing and my neighbor is cutting his grass. It feels like spring outside finally.  The winter days have gone and I hope the warm, sunny days decide to stay. Pretty soon we'll be loading the car up for vacations, running through the grass barefoot, eating melting popsicles in the summer heat.
The picture of Natalie and Katie above is from a trip to Camp Lejeune where Jerome was stationed for medical hold after his return from Afghanistan. Onslow Beach was something the kids and I looked forward to on many of our trips down to Camp Lejeune to see their daddy.
I knew I wanted to get some pictures on the beach to remember these days. I spent that morning sewing these dresses for the girls. There wasn't a lot to do in the tiny cramped room while waiting on Jerome to be released for the day. The kids ate cereal while they watched cartoons and I spent that morning sewing these dresses. I'm glad I did. These are some of my very favorite pictures of them.

Pillow Case Dress Directions

Materials Needed:

-vintage pillow case (cases with detailing or lace on the open side lend interest to hemline)

    or...

-fabric (approx. 1 yard), scarf or any other type of fabric if you do not want to use a vintage pillow case
-matching thread
-seam ripper
-grosgrain ribbon

Instructions:
1. Cut neckline: pillow case's opening becomes dress bottom.... cut along the closed seam at top, to open for neckline.
2. Cut armholes: lay pillow case flat and mark measurement with a pencil for a diagonal cut. First mark 2 inches from side seam towards the neckline on both sides. Next mark 3 inches from top of side seam down each side. Use a ruler to connect your marks on both sides and cut out triangles.
3. Fold over armhole's raw edge 2x. Pin. Sew.
4. Fold over neckline 2x (creating a channel wide enough for ribbon). Pin and sew.

5. Feed ribbon through front and back neckline and adjust to fit on child. 

6. Depending on the style of pillow case and size of child, you may want to add slits on the bottom sides.

For the dresses I made my daughters, I used white vintage fabric and kept several different colors of ribbon hanging in the closet with the dress, to change in the dress whenever I wanted to. Another little tip to run the ribbon through the seams of the dress is to use a bobby pin, attach it to the end of the ribbon and pull through. That was a tip my mother gave me when making these dresses. 

~Amber Hope