The Pillowcase Dress

“We should live and labor in our time that what came to us as a seed may go to the next generation as blossom, and what came to us as blossom, may go to them as fruit. This is what we mean by progress.”~Henry Ward Beecher

I had this fun pattern in my collection and had the perfect little girl to make this for, Alice!

I told Dana that I was going to make this for her, and she told me she actually had a vintage pillowcase that had belonged to her Great-Grandmother. She said I could use it to make Alice’s dress.

The pattern said to cut off the top of the pillowcase. I then folded it down the middle on the front and the back. After that I lined the pattern up with the “cut on fold” side of the pattern.

This very simple pattern had one piece for the front and the back. Once the front was cut out I placed it on the fold, on the backside of the pillowcase.

Pinned together, with the right sides facing each other.

Once the sides were sewn together I used the zig zag stitch to keep it from fraying.

The are and neck holes are finished with bias tape. Here I am sewing it on. (Look at the lint on my machine, time to clean it!)

I had this cute heart ribbon in my stash that made the perfect shoulder ties!

While writing this I thought it would be fun to talk about the history of embroidered pillow cases. Doing a quick internet search for facts or dates wasn’t much help. This isn’t the first time I’ve run into this problem.

Yes, I can find information about some of the first known embroidered pillow shams and cases. In ancient Rome they used embroidery to create lavish patterns and designs. This wasn’t the information I was looking for. Searching more I found tons of vintage embroidered pillow cases for sale. Also, not was I was looking for.

My daughter took many Women’s History classes while she attended UC Davis. One of her professors explained that women’s history is not documented well. To know what women were doing in specific times, you have to look “behind” the history, so to speak. It’s pieced together by journals, diaries, and letters. Women’s history is more a “social” history. AND, women were usually only documented if they did something bad. Thus the quote from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Well behaved women seldom make history”. I found all of this to be so interesting, and sad at the same time. Interesting to know how women’s history is pieced together, and sad because it shouldn’t have to be. What does this have to do with an embroidered pillow case? Everything!

Why did women start to embroider these other wise plain pillow cases? When did they really come into style? Well I can piece together my own history. These designs started during the depression and lasted long afterwards. I know this from my extensive searches, and personal study about sewing. I’m sure that plain linen, or even bleached flour sacks were repurposed to make pillow cases. How do you dress up plain fabric? With embroidery, or crochet, or perhaps lace or ribbon (if you were lucky enough to have that on hand). With them being in fashion, companies began to sell pillow cases with designs stamped on them. This was after the depression, and lasting until today! I recently saw some for sale in a popular store that sells craft items, although the quality of the fabric in not very good.

All of this to say, sewing, the reason women did it, and continue to do it is important to know and understand. It says so much about where we’ve been as a society, and what people did as a way of life. Why do people continue to sew? The answer is as diverse as the people who do it.

I’ll tell you my answer to that question in a bit. But first…..

The pillow case dress was complete and delivered! Alice first said it was too big, and decided to accessorize it with a belt!

Relaxing on a rock.

Belt and bare feet = perfection!

Posing in front of her “Disney Princess Castle” quilt that her Aunt Elizabeth made for her.

This pillowcase had once belonged to Dana’s great-grandmother, on her mom’s side. Alice decided to wear her dress out shopping with Mom (Dana) and Grandma. Dana said her mom was glad to see Alice making use of something that had belonged to her grandmother.

Little Miss Alice loves her dress so much, she wants to wear it over and over again! This is my favorite picture of all of them!

Posing in front of the crocheted afghan that my mom made for her, Alice shows us that one reason to sew and create is so the people you love can have personalized gifts with love in every stitch! Also, the things you create today could someday be a gift for someone in the future. I’m sure Alice’s great-great- grandmother never imagined her work would be worn by her great-great granddaughter. Especially when it started off as a pillow case!

I sew because I like to make useful things, and it’s a creative outlet for me. I like to be able to make personalized, one of a kind things for the people I love. Sewing also makes me feel like I’m keeping alive the skills of the women who came before me, and honoring them and their work. It’s important because their little daily tasks mattered.

Oh, and of course, if Alice wants to learn how to sew I will gladly teach her!

As for me, onto the next!