Pillowcase Pinafore and Dress Finished!

I finished the dress from the pillowcases that are family heirlooms that belong to my friend. She wanted a pinafore made from the pillowcases to go over a dress for her little niece. This is what I came up with for her. It just happened that I had a large crocheted doily that had the same, or almost the same design in the same colors, so I combined them. I used my crocheted flowers as the bodice. I sewed three together, overlapping the white parts and zigzagging any loose ends. I used two of the flowers on the back of the bodice and the centers of two for the shoulders. I decided that I would use ribbons as closures on the back of the pinafore.


I opened the sides of the two pillowcases. I stitched the fronts together to make the front skirt and the backs to make the back skirt using French seams.
For the back, I sewed a gathering stitch in a curve around the corner and all the way to the bottom, so that the trim would go up the inside of the opening. I hope this makes at least a little sense!

I pulled up the gathers. See below.

This is how it looks all put together from the back.

And here it is from the front. I made a binding from the left over fabric from the pillowcases to go across the top of the skirt section.

Here are close ups of the under dress. I think she may enjoy wearing it by itself this summer. I made a self lining from white cotton. The flowered fabric was a little too thin to be worn without a lining. I made a self binding for the sleeves. This dress is made with French seams, too. It is rare that I don't use French seams on my children's clothing. It just makes for a cleaner look.


Next is a pillowcase dress from another of her pillowcases. This one is really stained, but the hem edge is a really pretty solid lavender. I am going to make a typical pillowcase designed dress using some seersucker to replace the body of the pillowcase and just add the hem edging to it. I'll get into my ribbon stash to see if I have some matching ribbon.
I'm hoping to finish by tomorrow so that I can deliver these to her. She's a teacher at my old school. They are out for Spring Break next week, and I really don't want to wait till the week after next to take them to her. So, I'd better get in my sewing room and get busy!