Lace Overlay Adult Pillowcase Dress

Pillowcase dresses are everywhere – they’re so cute and so simple.  But all the ones I’ve seen are for little girls.  I started thinking that it would look cute to make an adult version.  And to amplify the look, I thought it’d be even awesomer to make it out of lace, which is so popular right now.  And I have a quick tutorial for you – really, you can make this Lace Overlay Adult Pillowcase Dress!

I made this for my Easter dress to coordinate with my girls – you saw a small glimpse of it a couple of weeks ago…

Lace Overlay Adult Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

My sister-in-law is a beginner sewer so I thought this would be the perfect project for her and I to try out.  She made hers more of a tunic length.  I made mine as a dress.  The idea is simple and perfect for a new sewer, although it’d be easier with just one layer of fabric.  We used a layer of slick lining and a layer of lace-ish fabric, which were a little tricky to sew.  Amber did a great job – see:

Lace Overlay Adult Pillowcase Free Pattern

We made these at my mom’s house and I didn’t bring my camera, so the tutorial is brief.  She snapped a few pictures for me.

You’ll want to hold up your fabric to your shoulder and cut it off at the length you want it – I cut mine at the knee.  You can have it folded in half long-wise and then cut down the fold, so you have two pieces.  This will work well for a size XS, S, M, and possibly a L.  You just need to be able to wrap the width of the fabric around your body.

Fold all both stacks in half and cut out an arm hole.  Here’s the one I cut, but it’s a few inches to deep, so I’d recommend going smaller:

Take the lining pieces, right sides together, and sew up the side seams.  Do the same for the lace pieces.  Hem each, the lining and the lace (separately).  I hemmed the lining a couple of inches shorter than the lace so that the lace goes past the lining – you can kind of see that here:

Now, put the lining inside the lace and treat them as one for the rest of the sewing.  Hem the under arm area with a narrow hem – turn it under 1/8 inch and again 1/8 and then sew into place.

Turn under the top front and back 1/8 inch.  Then turn down enough to fit your ribbon (I think mine was 1.5 inches) and sew into place.  Thread your ribbon through and that’s it.  Seriously!!

You can see how the front gathers just like a pillowcase dress:

I added a belt for a little shape, but it’s cute without if you want a flowy look.

Here’s a view of the back – you can see how the arm holes are cut too low – it’s okay with me because I planned to wear a cardigan with it, but if you want to wear it stand-alone, you’ll want to have that part higher:

Since the dress is pretty plain, I went wild with the shoes –

Here’s a shot of the dress without the cardigan so you can get a little better idea of how it fits, etc.  I like the little touch of whimsy that the bow adds.

Simple Sewing Tutorials

if you love simple sewing projects, you might also want to check out:

10 minute tshirt skirt

Pocket Tote Library Bag

Fabric Alphabet Letters