The Pillow Case Dress

Oh, the pillow case dress. How I love thee...

For those of you who haven't discovered the pillow case dress, it is the easiest, yet most versatile dress I have ever seen or made.

Also known as a bandanna dress, the pillow case dress is so named because you can literally make it out of a pillow case. I never have, but I am sure if you had a cute pillow case, you totally could!

You start with two rectangles. The size of the rectangle will depend on the size of your model.

Here is a general guide for width:

* 6 months - 14 inches
* 12 months - 16 inches
* 18 months - 17 inches
* 2T - 18 inches
* 3T - 19 inches
* 4T - 20 inches

Some sites say it should be square, some say a rectangle. Eliza is tall and skinny, so when I made her 6 month sized one, I started with a 14 inch wide by 16 inch long rectangle. When I made ones for my friend's twins, I made a 2T size and did a 18 by 18 square (with a ribbon on the bottom hem). Its up to you. The wider you make it, the more it will gather at the top.


Once you have your rectangles, lay them on top of each other, right sides together. Pin the side seams together.

Before you sew, you need to cut the arm holes. You are going to cut a rectangle out of the top corners. Measure in from the side 2 inches, and down from the top 3 inches. Then round the inside corner of this rectangle, making a sort of J shape. It should look like this:

Now, once you have that arm whole cut, sew the side seams.

Next, you are going to open up the side seams so that the arm whole looks like a U with the side seam running down the middle.

Finish this edge. You can simply fold it over and "hem" it, or add ribbon or seam binding. What ever you prefer.

Once the arm wholes are done, turn the dress inside out. From the top edge, fold the fabric down 1 inch, and press. Then fold the raw edge under 1/8 and sew, creating a pocket for your ribbon. Do this on the front and back of your dress.

How all that is left is to feed a ribbon through the pocket. You can use one long ribbon that will tie on one side, or use two shorter ones that will tie on each shoulder. You can also add a decorative ribbon to the bottom, or just hem it. If you had used a real pillow case or bandanna, it would already have a finished edge.

Here are a few examples of my pillow case dresses:

My first dress: I used a remnant fabric and a pink ribbon.

Here is my happy little model in her dress! You can see how I used one long ribbon, so her right shoulder has the ribbon going over it from front to back, and both ends of the ribbon are tied on her left shoulder.

Also, just a quick tip. If you are putting this dress on someone who will pull on the ribbon, you may want to add a few stitches so that the ribbon is attached to the dress.


Boo! I'm a ghost!

Minnie Mouse dresses for my Friend's 2 year old twins.

The possibilites are endless!! And they are so cheap. If you had to buy fabric, you would need less than 1/2 yard, depending on the size, and some ribbon. But all of the ones pictured, I already had the materials, so they were FREE!.

You can bet Eliza will be living in these dresses next summer!