The Ultimate Pillowcase Dress post March 4, 2013 – Posted in: Tutorials

I get emails almost daily from readers who come across my pillowcase dress tutorials and want more information. So instead of trying to update the several posts I have, I decided to create a new one, combine all information into one place, and put it somewhere prominent on my blog so it’s easy to find and easy to come back to.

I have 2 pillowcase dress tutorials. The first is a very basic, wonderful for beginners, tutorial. It can be found here.

Pillowcase Dress | Sew Like My Mom

Then I created another tutorial for how I make pillowcase dresses using my serger. The technique is a little different but the finished product looks exactly the same. See it here.

**Creating a pillowcase dress with a serger is much like the first tutorial, but it cuts out a few steps, a little bulk, and shortens the creation time by a few minutes. You can certainly create plenty of dresses without a serger, but if you have one, this is by far the quickest and easiest way to make them. It’s also a wonderful project for someone who is new to using a serger and will help you get comfortable using it while creating a well-loved garment.

Serged Pillowcase Dress | Sew Like My Mom

I created a fabric size/cutting chart for the original pillowcase dress tutorial (also found in that post):

Pillowcase Dress fabric size chart | Sew Like My Mom

And the same chart but with different measurements for the serger edition:

Serged Pillowcase Dress fabric chart | Sew Like My Mom

I’m also asked frequently about the size of the armholes. It really doesn’t matter too much, but for a general rule of thumb, I’d use this new chart I created:

Pillowcase Dress Armhole size chart | Sew Like My Mom

I have information for several places you can donate dresses, for those who are interested.

The Lira School Dress Project
The Lira School Dress Project who is hoping to take 66 dresses to Kindergarten girls in Africa. The trip is in JUNE 2013 so the deadline to receive donated dresses is 1 MAY 2013. The address to send them to is:

Lira School Dress Project
1701 Lytle Trail
Abilene, TX 79602

They are specifically wanting dresses in a size 6/6X since the girls who will be getting them are in Kindergarten.


Project Yesu

I just recently learned about Project Yesu. It’s an organization founded by a young woman name Mallory, who has an amazing heart is raising money to help children in Uganda. She started collecting money for them in 2011 and so far has raised over $12,000! This year Mallory is returning to Uganda and is wanting to take pillowcase dresses to hand out while she’s there. She is collecting dresses through 31 MAY 2013 and is taking them in all sizes. Take a few minutes to look around her site, she’s doing incredible things!

For more information you can email her at mallory@projectyesu.org.

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Little Dresses for Africa
Little Dresses for Africa is always collecting pillowcase dresses for girls of all ages as well as shorts for boys. They distribute the clothes all over the African continent and do amazing things to feed, educate, and shelter the people. Dresses (and shorts) can be sent at anytime to:

Little Dresses for Africa
24614 Curtis Dr.
Brownstown, MI 48134

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Several of you have asked me for a printable version of the instructions for you to take to churches and meetings to pass out to the groups who will be sewing dresses. So, here it is. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s all the steps and all the pictures from the original tutorial condensed into a .pdf for you to download and print and use at your convenience!

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

There is a button on my sidebar that links back to this post, so the information will always be easy to find. As I learn about more drives or organizations donating these dresses I’ll update the information so you can always have the latest if you’re interested in donating! It really touches me just how giving and selfless people are, so keep it up! The difference you make to girls all over the world is changing lives in incredible ways!