Pillow Case Style Shirt/Dress

Since it is National Sewing Month I am really hoping to share a BUNCH of sewing projects with you during September! 

The first one is a pillow case style dress/shirt that I made with some fabric I got from one of my coworkers, I don't have any micro pillow cases that would fit Avery so this tutorial was quite necessary. 

As with any sewing tutorial, I only partially know what I am doing and I will never claim that I am doing it the right way. But I do start at point "A" and end up at point "Z" and that is good enough for me!

Plus they came out cute! The shirt is my favorite, my pumpkin cooperated a bunch when I photographed this one but not so much when I was trying to get a picture of the dress. 

Click "Read More" to see ho I made it!!

I started with a good sized piece of fabric and folded it in two layers, right sides together and then folded it another time (long ways) so that I was sure I got a symmetrical dress/shirt. I drew a basic a-line shape based on Avery's measurements, going out from the fold. Her chest measures 18" and I was going for a 15" shirt so this is what I came up with. 

I drew one line out 5", then 6" below that I drew another line out at 6", then 14" below that I drew another line out at 7".  Then I connected line one to line two by drawing a line strait down and then curve it to meet line two. Then get a strait edge and connect line two to line three. 

That was the hardest part for me. Now you just cut it out. 

Next, I sewed the arm hem, so I snipped the curved part and then folded it over (pin if you would like) and sew. 

 

Then, I put the right sides together and folded the top over a quarter inch and then another inch and pinned (yes you really should iron, but I was making this about 30 minutes before we had to leave to go to brunch.

After I did the first side, I turned the whole thing over and pinned the other side down so that they are even. 

Then I was ready to sew these pieces down. 

Now I was ready to sew the sides. I pinned it together, sewed the side seams and then I turned it right side out and sewed the seam flat. 

The last sewing step is just folded the bottom hem the same way I did the top, pinned and ran a stitch through it!

Now the dress is done and the only thing left to do was put a piece of ribbon through the top hems on the front and back! To make this easier I got safety pin to guide it through.

Here is the dress made the same way, with just a longer length, just excuse the dog toy in her hands:

Check me out!