Pillowcase Dress

With cooler temperatures, the 'organized, plan ahead' type personalities are probably starting their Christmas shopping.  If they're not already done.  I say 'probably' because, not being one to that degree, I can't say for sure.  However, I want to do more planning ahead.  Especially when it comes to giving gifts for Christmas, specifically Operation Christmas Child.  If you're not familiar with Operation Christmas Child, it is an outreach of Samaritan's Purse (Franklin Graham's ministry - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/).  Every year they collect shoeboxes full of gifts and deliver them to children in other countries.  I have participated off and on for several years.  I would like to be able to give a couple shoeboxes a year, a girl and a boy around my kids' ages.  I think in order to successfully accomplish this I will need to plan ahead.

Another group my mom and I have heard about is Little Dresses for Africa.  They provide dresses for girls in Africa that are made from pillowcases.  My mom is going to be leading a Life Group in our church to make these to be sent to Africa.  In an effort to help her prepare, we met today to make a pillowcase dress.  It was super easy!  I plan on making 2 more - one for my DD and a matching one to put in a shoebox.  Plus, I am hoping to be able to be involved with the Life Group.

Here is the instructions:

Step 1:  Cut off the sewn end of the pillowcase.  This will make the top of the dress.
Step 2:  Cut armholes.  Cut through all layers, about 2" in and 4" down.
Step 3:  Form a casing and stitch it along the top.  Slide a 6" piece of elastic through and gather.
Step 4:  Cut 38" of bias tape and sew along the armholes.  Leaving extra at top for ties.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

Here's the pics we took today:

Fun pillowcases, ready to be cut and sewn into dresses!

Cutting done!

On the left-hand side of the dress you can see the elastic threaded through.

On the right-hand side my mom is pinning down the bias tape.  We had a wider tape but for future dresses, we decided a thinner tape would be better.

Sewing on the bias tape. 

We sewed the edges of the tape that will be the ties together.  As we got to the part where the bias tape gets sewed to the pillowcase, we double-stitched so it would be extra reinforced.

Beautiful dress!  Ready to be a blessing to a little girl!

Link to information about Little Dresses for Africa: 

 http://www.freep.com/article/20120708/COL26/207080398/A-small-idea-transforms-an-African-community-and-one-close-to-home