Pillowcase dresses for My dolly and me
-adapted tutorial from other website

We recently found a doll dress pattern here at skiptomylou.org and thought it was a great 'sew with me mommy' type project.  Great work skip to my lou!  We love finding projects that are just right for young seamstresses/beginners.

To make it easier for us, Mom did all the prep work of cutting, hemming and making the casing.  Leaving the work of sewing the side seams and threading the ribbon through the casing.  That required a small change to the original pattern.  Here is what she did



1.) cut out the pattern

2.) mark the side seam lines with a washable marker

3.) Iron the hem line and casing into place

4.) unfold the edge she pressed for the casing and folded the raw side seems down at an angle until they cleared the starting point of the side seem.

5.) zig zag stitch the folded side seems down.

6.) sew the casing and hem into place

7.) Pin the 2 pieces with right sides together.

She thought it would make a really great gift.  So she created a sewing kit to give out as a gift.  Here is what you will need to create a doll dress kit:

SEWING KIT GIFT

1. Zip lock bag to store all the pieces
2. 2 prepared fabric pieces.  (pinned together and prepared as described in directions 1-7 above) 
3. a bobbin with thread that matches the fabric
4. A sewing needle
5. a ribbon about 30" long that has a safety pin in the end of it,
6. Printed directions from this link here to include in your kit so the recipient knows what to do.  (these are directions Mom has written out specifically for this gift.  They begin with the fabric already hemmed and pinned together.)

The fun thing about the pattern from skiptomylou.org is that you can keep it simple for beginners, or if you have time and lots of creativity that you want to get out, add fun details like ruffles, lace, appliqué, rick rack, pockets… Whatever you can dream up.

Mom makes pillowcase dresses as nightgowns for us (get the nightgown pattern here at a dress donation site called dress a girl around the world.)  We love that we have matching nighties for our dolls now.

Hospital Infant Hats
Our church recently started making infant hats for a local hospital and we decided to make some too.  It has proved to be a just-right-project or a group of 8 and 9 year olds to do with the help of a grown up.  Here is what you would need to make one too:

• A measuring tape (most sewing measuring tapes are 3/4" wide, you will want to make sure yours is too.)
• Some ribbon that is not very wide
• A piece of cotton knit fabric (stretchy T-shirt fabric.  You can buy something new at the store, or cut a scrap out of some old clothes.)
• a washable marker
• a needle with a VERY large eye
• a normal size needle
• thread to match your fabric
• Scissors

 Directions

1.) Cut your fabric to be 8" by 14.5" (I used the bottom of some yoga pants, so you can see the old hem and the side seem in these photos.  If you are starting with a new piece of fabric, don't worry about hemming it.)

2.)  With your measuring tape as a guide, mark a line along one of the short sides at the edge of the fabric.

3.) cut the ribbon to be as long as the long side (14.5")

 4.) Fold your fabric in half, bringing the short sides together.  If there is a pattern on your fabric, make sure the pattern is inside the fold so you can't see it.  If there is an old hem or seem on the fabric, make sure that ugly part is facing you and the nice looking side is hidden up inside your fold.)

5.) Thread your regular sides needle.  (If using a sewing machine instead of hand sewing, adapt steps 5 & 6.)

6.) Sew by hand, using a back stitch to sew along the marked line, joining the 2 edges of fabric together.  Don't forget to begin and end with a knot.

7.) Turn your project right-side-out so you can see the pattern/hide the ugly edges.

8.) Thread your ribbon into your large eyed needle.

9.) Use a running stitch to weave the ribbon in and out along the top edge of the hat.  Try to keep your ditches about 3/4" away from the edge.  Go through only 1 layer of fabric at a time.  Continue your stitch until you reach the beginning again.  (for some this step can be tricky because it is difficult to pull through and the ribbon may slip out if you are not mindful of what is happening with your previous stitches.  For that I suggest safety pining the end of the ribbon to the fabric, preventing it from pulling through as you work.)

-don't worry about the ribbon twisting or flipping between stitches, that won't be noticed after the next step.

 10.) Match up the ends of the ribbon and pull tight against the hat.

 11.) Now tie the ribbon like you would if you were double knotting your shoelaces.

12.) Fold up the bottom 2 times and you are done.  DON'T sew the bottom edge in place, new babies need this to be adjustable depending on their head size.

Great job.  I would guess that this project would take 1-3 hours of work depending on the abilities of your young seamstresses.  An experienced gown up may complete it on a machine in 30 minutes.