Learn How to Make A Pillowcase Dress Tutorial
**Find more awesome tips on how to sew girls clothes here! **
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It’s no secret that I positively adore sewing cute dresses and outfits for my 2 year old little girl. In fact, I was selling little girls boutique style clothes for awhile (hoping to get back to it once my kiddos are in school!).
Nothing really fulfills my creative desires like spending a few hours hunched over my sewing machine with a yard or so of fabric and turning out an outfit that would net $70+ at an uppity overpriced boutique.
The truth is, most people have the capability to sew and to sew well. It requires patience, the ability to use Google (a lot in my case!) and really good patterns. Now when I say really good patterns, I am NOT talking about tissue paper patterns from McCall’s or Simplicity. Try to start sewing with one of those patterns, and you are likely to abandon your newfound sewing hobby before you even get the entire pattern cut out!
Make the process easy on yourself by starting with a quality pattern/tutorial
Why Learn How To Make a Pillowcase Dress?
Why even bother learning how to make a pillowcase dress?
If you learn how to make a pillowcase dress, you can whip something up in no time at all for way less then you would spend purchasing an outfit in stores.
Sewing machines actually aren’t even that expensive any more. You can get a basic one for just $75, which will pay for itself in a few outfits/throw pillows! Plus, nothing beats seeing your little girl twirling around the room in a Mommy Original 😉
Not interested in learning how to make a Pillowcase Dress? Check out these other great sewing tutorials:
- How to make a peasant dress
- How to sew a ruffled tier dress
- Make your own frugal bandana dress
- How To Make Pants
A Pillowcase Dress tutorial worth using
I wanted to give y’all a little treat today though.
To learn how to make a pillowcase dress you’ll need the following supplies:
- 1-1 1/2 yds of fabric (depends on the size you are making)
- Coordinating thread
- Bias tape (either coordinating or contrasting…I used double, the tutorial I post after this used single)
- 1-2 yards of grosgrain ribbon
- Trim (I used ruffle trim, the tutorial following used pom pom)
How to Make a Pillowcase Dress
Gather your supplies
Cut your fabric to the desired size (I maybe should have cut mine a tad smaller).
After I sewed the two sides together, I put on my ruffle trim. So dainty and girly, I love it!
So pretty!
Now it’s time to cut the arm holes…scary! I typically take a sleeveless shirt my daughter already owns and use that as a template to cut the arm holes. I use the bias tape to finish off the arm holes.
Making the upper casing for the ribbon. I could only find 1 1/2 coordinating ribbon, so my casing is a bit bigger then the tute calls for.
Just before I thread the ribbon through!
See the lighter off to the side? Be sure to heat seal the ends of your ribbon so they don’t fray!
Isn’t it gorgeous! Isn’t she adorable?
If you need a bit more guidance, stop by A Room Somewhere and tell her I sent you over!
Or if you need a bit more step by step assistance, check out You Can Make This for all your pattern needs!
Want more information? You can check out this post I made here…waaaaaaay back when I was first starting to blog: Learning to Sew
SO cute Heather! One day I WILL sew lol You did a great job 🙂
Yes you will! Start today!
I love this. I think my 4 and 2 year old Daughter’s would too! I have never even attempted to sew clothing but just might take the plunge with this design. Thanks for sharing it. Wish me luck!
Oooh you could make them matching ones! That’s the only reason I really want another daughter. So I can match their clothes for the 5 or so years that they let me, LOL
oh awesome site I am new to sewing and teaching myself mostly with patterns from blogs and etsy. I’m glad to have another resource.
Oh, Lizzie is SO SO pretty! I really love that fabric you chose too. 🙂
Isn’t it so pretty! I love that I can justify prettier (read: more expensive) fabric because she’s still so little, LOL! That whole dress cost less then $6!
Thank you so much for your amazing post! I was recently (hours ago) lamenting the lack of really clear tutorials for new sewers looking to move beyond tote bags into clothing. I am so grateful for the links and look forward to buying some patterns. Thank you!!
Hello, Adorable dresses! I am going to attempt one in seersucker for my daughter this week. I haven’t sewn before but just got a new machine and am excited to try this as my first project. One quick question – where did you find the ruffle trim? I can’t find any like that in my local fabric store. Thanks!
That’s a smart answer to a difficult question.
This info is the cat’s pajamas!
thanks for the link to my tutorial! you are so sweet.
Adorable dress; I love it! What are your favorite sites to purchase cute material?
I would love to make this and enjoy sewing but I was wondering how did you know the amount of fabric to use. I know you measure the length on the child but what about the width, do you double their waist size or what? THANKS
Well, I usually make it about the width of a typical pillowcase! My little girl is still pretty small, so this gives a nice gathered look to the top of the dress. If your child is larger/older, you might want to make it a bit wider 🙂
I hope you enjoy making it!
Great tutorial, but I have one question… how do you finish of the arm holes once you cut them out? With the bias tape?
Oops! yes with the bias tape! All these years this tutorial has been here and no one has ever mentioned that! LOL
Heather,
I have started sewing and I love it, I don’t have a lot of time to spend on it, but when I do, nothing else I mean nothing else gets done. I love these dresses I can whip them up for my two granddaughters, they will love them! thanks for sharing!
Karen