Sewing a girls pillowcase nightdress without elastic tutorial

You might have seen my previous post on how to make a girls nightdress from a pillowcase here , I had the pillowcase ready to make the nightie at the time but had run out of waistband elastic, so used an elastic trim that I had already, but this got me thinking , how would I have made the nightdress if I didn't have the elastic and just had a pillowcase, scissors and a sewing machine and ruler, so I came up with this alternative pillowcase girls nightdress that only needs the pillowcase no ribbon, binding or elastic, so perfect for a beginner .
You could also create a dress from a less sheer pillowcase using the same method .
Have you got your pillowcase  and want to make one of these , I did mine to fit my six year old daughter but measurements can be adjusted to fit other ages.

Then gather your supplies together , not much needed , thread, sewing machine, pillowcase , scissors, tape measure or ruler , tailors chalk , pins and a couple of safety pins.

We are now ready to make this awesome girls nightdress that should take about 20-30 minutes , it will take me longer to write this post than it will for you to make it, you will be running them off in their dozens once you have made one.

First off the flap bit inside the pillowcase, you need to cut this off and put it to one side, cut along the fold where it folds to the inside of the pillow, also cut off the hem on the opposite side to this flap , cut along the stitch line.
Now cut across the top of the pillowcase , the end opposite to the open end , just snip right across the fold as close to the fold as you can get , to open up the pillowcase so you now have a fabric tube.

I found at this stage one of my side seams had started to unravel a little so I just used a straight stitch to sew it back up again, starting a little higher up than the unravelling and remembering to backstitch at the start and finish.

The next stage is to hem both of our open ends of our pillowcase tube, at one end of your tube turn the raw edge from the right side to the wrong side of the fabric 1/4" and fold over again encasing the raw edge , pin and do this all the way around this edge.

Sew using a straight stitch all the way around to create a nice hem with no raw edges , easy peasy lemon squeezy, now repeat the folding the hem, pinning and sewing for the opposite end , so we end up with a nice neat hemmed tube.

Next we are going to get the straps done, grab the flap that we cut off earlier and fold in half lengthways right sides together and pin along the long raw edge, I am not a pinner but you should be.

Sew along the long edge only straight stitch 3/8" seam allowance , un pin and turn your fabric tube right side out.

With the tube finger pressed flat and the seam you have just sewn pressed flat and running straight along the length of the tube, sew a topstitch (straight stitch along both long sides of the tube using a 1/8" seam allowance.

Fold your tube in half with shorter sides together and cut, across the fold giving , you two identical strap pieces.

Put your straps to one side, and we are ready to give the nightdress some shape, this next bit might seem complicated when written down but it is really simple so don't be put off by the next step.

You will need your child's chest measurement , no adding wiggle room or seam allowances , just the exact measurement of a tape measure held comfortably around your child's chest.
My daughter's measurement was 23 inches .
Divide your chest measurement by 2 , this gives me a measurement of 11 1/2 inches.
Add 3/4 inch to this measurement , my number is 11 1/2 +  3/4" which gives 12 1/4 inches.

12 1/4 inches is my measurement that I want from side seam to side seam to measure both on the front and back of my nightdress , so keep this number in mind while I explain how we will get the nightdress measurements to end up where we want them.

Grab your tailors chalk , and safety pins and ruler as we will need to mark and measure the pillowcase.

Make sure your pillowcase is right side facing out , fold your pillowcase in half long side to long side so side seams are touching, mark using your tailors chalk at the top of the pillowcase on both sides where the fold line is

This is marking where the centre front and centre back of your nightdress will fall , lay your pillowcase out flat with the edges you have just marked at the top.
Grab your ruler . do you remember the measurement from earlier 12 1/4 inches
Divide this by two which gives you 6 1/8 inch Remember these are my measurements yours may differ.

Measure along the top edge from side seam in toward the centre along the top edge in my case 6 1/8 inch on both sides left and right and mark with tailors chalk, do the same on the flip side of your pillowcase , so you have marked the front and back.

Now you will need your safety pin, doing one side at  a time, you will have three marks on your pillowcase on each side, grab the fabric at the point , where the mark is on the left , still with right side of fabric facing you and pull this in till it meets the centre mark and safety pin in place, now do this again for the mark to the right , pull it in to meet the centre mark, all three marks will meet and safety pin in place.
You will have a nice pleat , repeat for the other side of the nightdress , this will create a centre pleat on the front and back of your nightdress.

I have suggested using safety pins, as you now want your child the nightdress to fit to try it to make sure it is not too tight or loose around the chest, safety pins will hold everything in place without poking anyone.

When you are sure everything fits sew using a straight stitch and as close to the hemline as you can two rows of stitches across the top of the pleats , you only need to sew across where there are two layers of fabric, do this for the front and back , I suggest two rows of stitches to make sure the pleats are secure.

You can see from the photograph how the pleats should look from the inside and outside of the nightdress.

The final stage now is to attach the straps , decide on strap placement this will depend on the recipient of the nightdress but mine I placed 2 inches in from the side seam , so I marked on the front and back of my nightdress and the left and right a mark two inches in from the side seam marking my strap placement.

 Grab your straps and doing one at a time fold the raw edge of the strap under 1/4 inch and under 1/4 inch again encasing the raw edge in the fold , place on the top edge of your nightdress on the outside with the folded fabric facing down and sew along the short edge of the strap with a straight stitch , sewing the strap to the outside of the nightdress , this is so the garment is more comfortable with any bulk on the outside.
Now do the same again for the other end of the strap but you are going to be sewing it to the opposite side of the nightdress ( the back/front)
Repeat this step for the other side of the nightdress and strap and you have a perfect finished nightdress.

 I promise you will be whizzing these off in no time at all and once you start you can't stop.

Creating curves when sewing with french curves

Welcome to another little adventure in sewing land , I wanted to share with you a nifty little find, I found in our local recycling shop , not another one I hear you say !
I actually do pop into the recycling shop once a week if I can and I usually find something that I need / want, sometimes it is a combination of the two , like this week, have I kept you in suspense long enough ? This week it was tadaaaaa



French Curves

French curves, now these as you can see from the photograph are the plastic type not the croissant type. These nifty plastic curves were brand new in the packet and I bought them for a princely sum of 20 pence .
That is all well and good I here you say, but what does it do ? I can tell you now it is doing it now, being all curvy. French curves are also known as dressmakers curves and draftsmen curves and probably have a 100 other names but those are the ones I have heard of .

French curves are just pieces of in this case plastic with a series of curves that can be used for drawing curves on drawings, sewing patterns and cutting fabrics etc.

I became in dire need of these little curves today when I discovered that I have lost the A line dress pattern that I had created for my daughter, since my daughter had already spotted the mermaid fabric to be upcycled there was nothing for it but to draw up a new pattern.

Luckily I found the dress I had made from the pattern, folded the dress in half lengthways , drew around it and added a seam allowance to create a new pattern.

Although I was not over the moon with the curve of the neckline or the curve of the sleeves from the tracing , so in came my french curves.

You can see from the photograph above I used the curve to create a nice evenly curved  armhole on the dress pattern , I just picked the curve that looked most suitable and lined it up and drew along the curve and cut the pattern. There was nothing technical to it just picked the curve that gave me the shape I wanted.

I also used a curve for the neck line , you can see from the photograph below

Again nothing technical just use the curve that best suits your purpose . There may be a really technical way to go about drawing curves on sewing patterns when manually creating a pattern but this is the best way I have found.
If you don't have French curves , you can use objects that you have in the house, plates , cups, glasses , bowls , I admit to having used a dinner plate before and it did a fine job of creating a curve.

Please note I am not a trained seamstress, everything I have learned has been self taught and trial and error , so what I may be showing you may not be the "right" way but it is my way.

I thought I would also show you the finished mermaid dress created from an upcycled curtain that cost £3.00 from a charity shop , sorry it is not an amazing photograph, it was taken on my phone , and I can't get the dress of my daughter's back long enough to get a proper photograph, but you can get the gist from the picture, just a slip over the head A line dress , no zips or buttons , easy to wear my daughter's favourite type of dress and with the pattern ready to go it takes 30 minutes to make .

 

 

 

How to make a little girl's nightdress from a pillowcase tutorial

My little girl has been dying to have a nightdress like her grandma for ages , and I have hunted high and low but found it difficult to get hold of  a little girls proper nightdress at a reasonable cost , it is all pjs and t shirt nighties .
I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner but I decided to make my own, and forever thrifty bought two pillowcases for 99p from a charity shop to make some out of , and here is how I did it .

You will need a pillowcase


Scraps of fabric dependent on size of nightdress to be made
elastic trim
thread and scissors
ribbon (optional)

I will start by saying my daughter is 6 years old but quite a small 6 and these measurements are for her but you can adjust to fit.







                                                   This is what you will be making

 

 

First you need to deconstruct your pillowcase , that flap bit that holds your pillows in we want to take that our you will need to cut along the fold line of the pillowcase , that is fine, keep your cut off though we need this.

And you see this hemmed edge on the opposite side to the flap we cut off , snip it off along the stitch line otherwise our final nightdress hem will be too bulky.

Snippety snip , now turn your pillowcase around and cut as close to the folded edge as you can right across the width of the pillowcase to open up the pillowcase into a tube.

 

 

Jut a note at this point , if any of your side seams start to unravel, mine did , just sew them back up again at this point.


Next we need to create a hem at one end of the tube, fold your raw edge into the wrong side of the pillowcase 1/4 " and fold over again 1/4" enclosing the raw edge, pin in place and sew using a straight stitch, do this for one end only.

 

 

 

 

I decided to sew some princess ribbon and ric rac around my hemline for decoration as my pillowcase was plain but it is entirely up to you what you do.

Next we are going to create the straps , grab your large piece of fabric that you removed from the inside of your pillowcase . I cut mine into two pieces measuring 9 1//2 inches x 4 inches , this was to make my straps 1 inch wide and I measured on my daughter , where I wanted  the nightdress to start on her chest and over her shoulder to the opposite point on her back and added 1 inch

To make the straps fold your fabric with the wrong side of the fabric facing up, in half lengthways and finger crease and open up, fold your long raw edges to this centre line so they meet then fold in half again enclosing the raw edges, open again and fold in the raw edges on your shorter sides by 1/4 inch to the wrong side of the fabric and fold up again along your crease lines and pin, you should have no raw edges protruding , do this for both straps.
Sew along all four sides of both straps using a straight stitch and 1/8 inch seam allowance.
I also sewed a strip of ribbon onto mine to jazz it up.

A note , if you don't have enough fabric from your pillowcase flap for the straps use another piece of scrap fabric that does fit.

 

 

 

 

Next we need to attach the straps and hem the top off the nightdress , first measure where you want the straps to be set on the nightdress , measure your child for this but allow for the fact the nightdress top will be gathered , for my daughter the outside edge of the straps needed to be 4 inches in from the edge of the pillowcase so this is where I marked the pillowcase for strap placing on front and back of the pillowcase.

 

We are going to do as before for hemming this end of the pillowcase fold under 1/4" to wrong side but before folding again trap your strap in the fold and fold 1/4 inch again and pin in place, do this for the four strap positions , both ends of the two straps , and sew all the way around creating a hem using a straight stitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we need to elasticate the top of the nightdress to stop it swinging around in the breeze, I used this , an elasticated trim

 

 

 

Measure your child's chest measurement and cut your elasticated trim to this size plus 1/2 inch, my daughter's was 24 inches so I cut the elastic to 24 1/2 inches .

Sew your elastic into a loop by overlapping the ends 1/2 inch, be careful not to twist it, your elastic will end up 1/2 inch smaller than your chest size.

 

Now we need pins , you are going to fold your elastic in half , with the sewn ends at one end, pin your seam to one of your side seams , on the outside of your pillowcase , the end with the straps and pin the folded end of elastic to the other side seam , so your elastic is distributed equally between side seams.

Next find the halfway spot on your elastic between these two points and pin it to your halfway point on your pillowcase between seams quartering your pillowcase and elastic, now gently pull and your elastic should stretch all round your pillowcase.

 

Switch your sewing machine to a zig zag stitch as we want the stitching to stretch with the elastic, and slowly sew the elastic to your hem , stretch your elastic gently as you go and you will see this gathers your nightdress top.

 

And you have your finished nightdress

 

 

 

An alternative for gathering the top of the nightdress is to make an elastic casing and thread elastic through , but for this example the elastic trim was quicker and I had it to hand .

Don't be put off by the length of this tutorial it took me longer to write it than make the nightdress, if I wasn't stopping to take photos, I could easily have had it done in half an hour , so a great thrifty and quick project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcycling clothes, a sweatshirt to a little girls dress tutorial

Whilst browsing a local charity shop a few weeks ago , I came across a "Daisy Duck" sweatshirt for 25p , perfect for my little girl except that it was an age 11 yrs not age 5 yrs. Not wanting this bargain to get away I bought it anyway and set about upcycling it from a lovely sweatshirt to a little girls dress.
Here is the tutorial on how I did it to give you ideas on how you too can upcycle clothes easily and cheaply.

First grab your sweatshirt 

Use your seam ripper to de-tatch the sleeves 

Next grab your child that the dress needs to fit and place the de-armed sweatshirt over their head inside out as though it were a dress already.

Carefully place pins along one side of the sweatshirt to pin the sides of the sweatshirt to narrow them where neccessary to create a dress shape rather than a sack , also pin the armhole to create a smaller gap but make sure your child can still comfortably get their arm in and out of the armhole.

You may need to take the armholes in as well but I didn't need to for mine. If you need to use the same principle as for the dress sides pin in place but allow an extra 1/4 inch seam allowance for hemming the armholes. 

Either cover your hands over the pins to prevent them sticking in the child when you remove the sweatshirt or draw a line where your pins are and remove them first.

Ignore my drawn line below I changed my mind on the sizing before sewing.

Fold your sweatshirt down the middle and trace your dress shape you have just pinned onto the other armhole and sweatshirt side, this ensures your dress is symmetrical.

Now use a ball point needle as your fabric is probably a bit stretchy and a stretch stitch on your sewing machine and turn your armhole raw edges over 1/4 inch from the right side to the wrong side and sew all the way around both armholes 

Now sew on both sides of your sweatshirt following your guidelines you pinned earlier , a line of stitches starting at the armhole and following your line along to the side seam.

Do not cut this yet

Try the dress on the child first before any of this snippy snippy business, once you have cut it there is no going back, remember measure twice cut once.

Once you are happy that your dress fits then cut the excess fabric off the side where you have just sewn, leave about an 1/8 inch excess fabric next to your stitches and zig zag with a small zig zag stitch to neaten the edges .

And you have an easy 20 minute upcycled little girls dress.

Girls dress tutorial using jersey fabric with a butterfly motif

Well last week , my daughter came home with a dreaded letter from school, to say they are having a mini beast day and they could dress up as a mini beast for the day, unfortunately my daughter had also been told about this and had clearly spent her time since planning out the outfit that she was going to wear and mum being a sewer was going to magic one up. My girl being my girl, with her own ideas decided she was going to be a butterfly, now I am not sure if a butterfly technically qualifies as a mini beast, maybe some one could clarify for me, but who am I to argue with a five year old who has spent a day planning her dress.
With a bit of discussion we came up with the following dress, that could also be worn on other occasions to.

Girls jersey dress with butterfly motif

I have used a multicolour two way stretch jersey I already had, but you could use old t-shirts sewn together, any stretchy fabric will do . So here is how I made my butterfly dress.

Measurements needed are chest circumference measurement + 2 inches (example chest measurement 22 inches + 2 inches = 24 inches )
Armpit to waist measurement + 1 inch (example armpit to waist =10 inches + 1 inch = 11 inches )
Waist to knee length + 1 inch (Example waist to knee measures 14 inches + 1 inch = 15 inches )
Measurement over shoulder , armpit front to armpit back = 5 inches

First cut out 2 x chest pieces measuring chest + 2 inches divided by 2 this measurement needs to follow the stretch of the fabric so that it will stretch around the childs body x (Armpit to waist measurement + 1 inch)For my example each piece measures 12 inches x 11 inches
Then cut out 2 skirt pieces measuring (waist to knee + 1 inch) across the non stretchy direction of the fabric , and following the stretch of the fabric measure (Chest + 2 inches x 1 1/2 )divided by 2 , if you want a fuller skirt measure 2 x waist measurement for this dimension. In my example my skirt pieces measured 15 inches x 18 inches

Cut out 4 x strap pieces measuring over shoulder length measurement (along the stretch of the fabric), so shoulder straps will stretch over the shoulder x 3 inches
In my dress the strap pieces measured 5 inches x 3 inches


You will also want to cut a butterfly motif out of a contrasting piece of jersey fabric, to do this fold a piece of paper in half and draw half a butterfly shape against the fold and cut out, this gives you a symmetrical butterfly , use this cut out as a pattern for cutting your butterfly shape out. I find it easiest to pin on the fold and fold your paper butterfly back up and cut fabric as you did your paper butterfly.

You now need to pin your fabric butterfly to the front of your dress centrally ensuring your butterfly is flat against the dress front , you can fold your piece lengthways to centre up the butterfly as below

Girls dress tutorial bodice piece

And sew your butterfly to your front dress piece ensuring it is the correct way up using a small zig zag stitch along the edge of your butterfly, when your needle moves to the right it should land just over the raw edge of your butterfly.

You should end up with something like this



Girls dress butterfly motif

You now need to place both of your dress top pieces right sides together pinning in my case the shorter 11 inch length together on one side only and serge or sew and zig-zag to prevent fraying using a 5/8 inch seam allowance.

You will now have one length of fabric , next serge or zig-zag along the top of the dress top pieces and turn over 1/4 inch from right side to wrong side and zig-zag to create a stretchy hem.

You now need to sew the other short sides of your dress top together placing the pieces right side to right side again serge or sew and zig-zag with a 5/8 inch seam allowance so that you then have a tube .

Girls dress finished bodice piece

Follow the same steps for the skirt pieces again sew 2 pieces together to form one long length , sew the bottom hem and then sew together to form a tube , you will now have two tubes.

To sew the top and skirt together, turn your skirt with the wrong side facing out and the hem at the bottom, and place your top right side facing out hemmed top pushed downwards inside your skirt tube until the raw edges are lined up.
Find your side seams on your skirt and your top and pin the side seam on each side together , find the midpoint between the pins on your skirt and top and again pin together . you will now have 4 equally spaced pins.

Gather your skirt piece evenly and pin to your top using as many pins as you need to hold it in place

Serge or sew and zig-zag using a 5/8 inch seam allowance all around this raw edge you have just pinned, make sure you take your pins out as you go especially if serging. Sergers and pins do not make for a happy couple.

Turn your dress right side out , you are nearly done just need the straps, sew your strap pieces together sew two pieces together, right side to right side using 5/8 inch seam allowance along the long sides of the strips only to form a tube. Turn your tubes right side out , and turn the raw edges at the end of each tube inward and pin one strap at each side of the front of the dress equal distances from the side seams on the inside of the dress front , I measured on my daughter where these needed to go, for me the distance was 1 1/2 inches but this may be different for you, pin your strap pieces same distance apart on the back of the dress .

Sew the strap pieces on where you have pinned them and your dress is done. My butterfly ended up slightly wonky on my dress as unfortunately I had a problem with my serger and some of the dress got snarled up in it , long story short adjustments had to be made . My daughter is in love with the finished dress so its all good. Take a look and see what you think.

If you like my little sew along tutorials I also sell them in my  Etsy shop e patterns , or if you enjoy the finished product but not so much the process of creating you can view my finished products for sale in my Etsy shop

Until next time , happy sewing