...tales from the IKEA bathroom: Look at what I made! 4th of July pillowcase dress edition

I wanted to make the girls new 4th of July dresses. For some reason, I get very Pinteresty around the 4th of July. Yes, I'm planning on making Pinteresty an adverb.

I have two little ladies. One wears a 18-24 mo and the other is a 5-6. I don't normally make a habit of dressing them alike but on occasion... It's just too cute to not do!

Since pillowcase dresses are the most ridiculously easy thing on the face of the planet, I figured I'd show you how I did it. French seams and all. Sounds scary but they're not in the slightest. Trust.

First, let's gather our materials. You'll need a pillowcase and some ribbon and thread but since I'm making mine from scratch, I needed: (all of these fabrics are a cotton and a minimum of 40" wide. I'm using the entire width of fabric.)

-3/4 yard for the main body (red)*

-1/4 yard for the edge (blue)*

-2-3 inch strip for your lip (white)*

-matching thread

-ribbon

If you just grabbed a pillowcase, meet me at Step 13.

* All measurements are flexible. Keep reading to find out why.

You'll need to measure your littles but to be perfectly honest, I know a standard pillowcase will fit my older girl (5-6T) so I will measure them later.

If you have a larger child or you need to be more exact than I'm being, let me know.

First let's make the pillowcase. I'm using the "hot dog" method I was taught a lifetime ago. You're gonna love this!

Step 1: I've pre-washed and pressed all the fabrics already because I don't like the sizing straight from the store and no one likes wrinkly fabric. Just saying.

Step 2: Get your lip fabric and press it in half the long way with the WRONG sides together. I made my lip fabric 2 1/2 inches wide. Think about how much you want to see. I wanted to see 1" in the end but you may want more or less. To figure out the lip: (final desired width x 2) + 1/2" = cut width of lip fabric. In my case: (1" x 2) + 1/2" = 2 1/2"

It's hard to see in my pictures but the finished side is the side my iron is touching.

Step 3: Lay your edge fabric with the RIGHT side up on your table. Again, think about how much you want to see. I wanted to see 4" in the end but you may want more or less. To figure out the edge: (final desired width x 2) + 1/2" = cut width of edge fabric. In my case: (4" x 2) + 1/2" = 8 1/2"

Step 4: Lay your lip on top of the edge fabric. Align the raw edges like in the picture.

See?

Step 5: Lay your main fabric over the lip/edge combo with the RIGHT side of the fabric touching the lip. You should be looking at the WRONG side of the fabric when you're done.

I put some pins in at this point. You may not need to but if you do... Make sure the pointy end is pointing towards the raw edge. This matters.

The whole thing looks like this so far:

Your fabrics may have not been the exact same size. Who cares... We're trimming later.

It's not that interesting yet. Sad face.

Step 6: Carefully pick up the dangling end of the body fabric and roll it up towards the pins. Be a little tight about it and don't get it too close to the pinned edge.

Step 7: Grab the free end of the edge fabric and wrap it around the entire thing. Align the raw edges. Add more pins.

Look at the tube we made!

Step 8: Now, let's sew! Sew a 1/4" seam down the raw edge. That's all. Just one seam.

Step 9: Let's pull the red fabric out of the tube. Carefully, as there's still pins in there. If you put them in properly, you can get them out without a problem. If not, I'm sorry to hear that. They're stuck.

Once it's turned inside out, you've can press it flat.

Step 10: This is optional. I like to topstitch down the lip. You can leave it dangling but I stitch it down. Sometimes with a decorative stitch. Sometimes, a straight stitch. This is entirely up to you.

Step 11: Let's fold the pillowcase in half with the WRONG sides together and square up the edges. This is where you'll chop off and make things even.

Sew a 1/4" seam down the edge. If I we're making a true pillowcase to put a pillow in, I'd sew it down the long side and across the red side but I'm not going to here. Here we're making a dress. I'd end up chopping off the short side anyway so why bother sewing it in the first place?

If I were making a pillowcase and not a dress, I would have sewn this across the bottom edge too...

Step 12: Now, turn it inside out and press the tube. Sew a 5/8" seam in the same place. This will encapsulate the seam and you'll have no raw edges in your dress. No unraveling. French seams! Voila!

So that's a long way to get to your pillowcase. Now, on to the dress!

Step 13: Measure your little from the neckline to the shins and add 1". That's your length. Cut the dress from the edge up.

Step 14: Turn the tube inside put again and fold the dress in half.

Step 15: Measure 2" in from the top and 5" down the side. Connect them with a backwards "J" and cut them out.

Step 16: Open the armhole and fold over the raw edge 1/4" once and then again. Stitch it down. Repeat for the other arm.

Step 17: If you joined us with a already made pillowcase, cut the top off so there's a place for your little's head. Otherwise, fold the top edge of the neckline down 1/4" and press. Fold over again, 1" to make a pocket for the ribbon. Stitch it in place and repeat on the other side. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of this step. I apologize but you can kind of see it here.