Weekend Sewing: Baby Pillowcase Dress

I have just made a dress for a very special little lady.  I’d like to introduce you to Martha Graham.  When she was born she had a  very fast heartbeat – double what it normally is for a newborn.

She was cared for really well by the staff at the University Hospital in Wales and she is now a health little girl.  She has a heart condition called PJRT and it is controlled with lots of medicine, so lots of trips back to hospital for Martha and her family.  Her lovely parents Rick and Michelle have been raising funds for the hospital and their fundraising is called ‘Martha’s Dancing Heart’.

I knew that I wanted to make a dress for Martha, so I looked around at the styles available and settled upon the pillowcase dress.  I found a great tutorial on Baby Rabies.  Don’t worry, her babies do not have rabies, just in case you were wondering!!

I bought some fabric from my favourite shop in Leamington Spa, Harlequin Fabrics.  They have lots of cute craft fabric, but I decided to go for cotton lawn as it is lovely and soft – perfect for baby skin.  It’s a really easy pattern, so I wanted to be really tidy and ensure that all my seams were neat and well finished.  It only has one seam in the centre back, so I decided to make a French Seam to keep it neat.  I love the bias bound armholes and the matching ribbon to tie the shoulders in place.

I just hope it fits and can’t wait to see baby Martha wearing it!  To find out more about Michelle’s fundraising, please see Martha’s Dancing Heart