Monday, May 26, 2014

Pillowcase Dresses - Example 1

I've been on a little hiatus for the past week.  There have been several things that have come up recently in my personal life that have made it pretty hard to keep up with my blogging.  However, I'm back on track (mostly) and am kicking off a new series on Pillowcase Dresses!

These really are a fantastic thing to have in your repertoire.  I started making them about a year ago, when the church I attended back in Rochester, Trinity Alliance Church (ps: I'm on the front page!).  One of the events the women's group hosted was a giant sewing party for Dress a Girl Around the World, an organization that strives to get pillowcase dresses with labels into the hands of young girls in Africa.  You see, a new dress is a sign of value, and many young girls only ever get hand-me-downs, which makes them more susceptible to victimization (it's easier to take someone if you don't think anyone will be looking for them).  The labels on the dresses serve to affiliate the girls not only with value, but also with an organization that is looking out for them, and therefore decrease their vulnerability, as well as help their self-value.

Well, in case you haven't heard, the past year was a bit hectic, and so I vowed to finish a few dresses that I had started and ship them off to the church when I finished.  They were done a few months ago, but I'm just now getting a chance to post about them.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting examples of dresses that I have made, ending with a tutorial.  Keep these in mind for any younguns in your life -- they're easy to whip-up and great for scraps!

All of my dresses are double-sided, and so to start, I'm going to post about two dresses that I made that look nearly identical.

As you can see, one side of the dress is made of a plain, tan pillowcase.  I sewed on a pocket for decoration out of an old forest green and tan gingham scrap I had.

 

The other side is made of a blocked red, orange, yellow, tan and pink with texture stripes.  I took a scrap piece of yellow fabric for the pocket, as well as a scrap of orange rick-rack for embellishment.


The neckline and armpit holes are made of double-fold bias tape in a complimentary orange shade.  The shoulders are tied in bows or knots, so they are adjustable.


What do you think?  Has anyone made one of these before?  How did it work out?

No comments:

Post a Comment