Make Little Dresses

You may have seen yesterday’s post about the dresses I’m making to send along with some fabric and supplies to my new friend Margaret, who is putting them together to send to little girls in Africa.  She’s collecting them through the end of May. Plenty of time to make some simple dresses. Or if you have fabric that you don’t have time to sew up, but are willing to share, we’ll take that too.

Today I’m highlighting a few suuuuper simple dress tutorials and free patterns. No buttons or zippers, since those would be nearly impossible to repair or replace in a remote village. Simple and durable is the goal. As far as sizing for this project, the finished shoulder-to-hem length can start at 16 inches and fall up to 35 inches, which means we’re starting at about a size 2.

The dresses I’m making that I showed yesterday are a version of a pillowcase dress.

Dresses made from pillowcases are perfect for a little girl. One cut across the top and a bit down each side is all that’s required, and an adjustable tie means the width is variable for any wearer. If you’d like to start with pillowcases you already or have or plan to pick up, here’s a tutorial from 402 Center Street.

If you’d like a two-page printable instruction sheet from our fave Anna Maria Horner, click here.

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If you have some smaller pieces of fabric to piece together, like fat quarters, you might enjoy this tutorial from The Mother Huddle.

The Mother Huddle did a similar version that includes elastic. And there’s a handy sizing chart.

And now three options that aren’t pillowcase dresses. Our favorite pattern for a peasant-style raglan-sleeved dress maybe?

Here’s one called The Good Deeds Dress, requiring less than a yard of fabric and again, no buttons or zippers. (Thanks, Jasmine!)

If you’d like to make dresses from tees (who doesn’t have extra tees lying around?) you can follow this tutorial for the tee-to-tank. We wrote it for women, but who’s to say it wouldn’t make a great little girl’s dress, too? This is, for sure, the fastest and least complicated option. To preserve the length of the tee for a dress, skip the bottom hem cut and use ribbon or strips cut from another shirt to make the drawstring. Even easier.

I hope you see an option or two you like among these. And if you have others to suggest feel free to add them in the comments.

Adrianna will pop in on Monday with one more option.

Ready to sign up– to send dresses or to send fabric that you’re not likely to use so that Margaret’s school can use that to make dresses? Sign up here.