Here is a little quintet of girls' dresses that are destined for Sew Scrumptious which is an organisation that distributes dresses and shorts to girls and boys living in Malawi, Kenya, India, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Philippines, Tanzania and Zambia.
These dresses are sometimes called pillowcase dresses as it is possible to make them from spare pillowcases. They are basically 2 pieces of material sewn together with ribbon ties at the shoulders. I have left the ribbons undone for easy packing. I also like to add a contrasting band at the hemline. It takes longer but is worth the effort.
I don't have any spare pillowcases, so I bought a similar pattern and some suitable cotton material. The Winnie the Pooh material came from a market stall at a good price. The rest of the material came from a charity shop at an even better price. They were selling large pieces of material for only 49p. I managed to cut the two light blue dresses from one piece of material. What a bargain. I made the mistake of oohing and aahing so much about the price that, when I went back the next day, they had doubled and even trebled it. They still sold their material, but not to me! The blue theme in the dresses is my way of keeping down costs for thread, bias tape and ribbon.
These particular dresses should fit girls aged approximately 4-6 years old. I managed to buy material in the same charity shop that will be suitable for boys' shorts and I have found some easy patterns. It seems that less than one in 10 items sent to Sew Scrumptious is shorts. i can just see the boys' hopeful little faces when the donations arrive. So next year I will sew some shorts to add to my parcel before I post it.
My sewing projects are finished for 2013. I have some knitting left to do which will fill my dwindling free time.
They are so pretty Una, I love the contrasting band it makes them special. Yes the poor little boys always seem to miss out, that's why I always try to find little boy patterns. :)
ReplyDeleteI really like pillowcase dresses, they're quick and easy. I am sure these will be much appreciated. They're really adorable.
ReplyDeleteHere here boys patterns are very few and far between! anyway Una these are lovely you always amaze me how many wonderful items you are able to produce you really are very special - perhaps next year I can ask your advice on sewing as would like to learn how to use my machine and would like to try these dresses? xx
ReplyDeleteWell done once again these are lovely xx
My comment disappeared I think?
ReplyDeleteAnway just to say these are super Una, it always amazes me how many wonderful items you produce for such good causes - you are a special lady for doing all these things xx
Hello Jaqueline. I got your comment. It looks like they disappear because they save up until I moderate them to weed out the spam. You can ask me about sewing, though I'm mainly self-taught. I had a long spell away from sewing and had to learn it all again when I went back to it this year.
DeleteThese are really lovely. You did a great job - and they will be much appreciated. X
ReplyDelete