How I was able to make a dress

Browsing the internet looking for a sample of a pillowcase dress and what possible measurements to use, how to cut, what stitch to use I was able to make my very first dress. There was just too many instructions to follow that after I have made the dress I thought I would sit down and start making instructions.

Well I have just done that and now have formalize the steps I did in making a dress including supplies needed and measurement guides. Make sure you have a measuring tape before you do anything.

Check out these instructions on one of the pages above. The name of the page is 'Pillowcase Dress Instructions' and it is right next to the 'Home' tab. I will be taking pictures to illustrate the steps this weekend and post them on this page.

For all you beginners out there or anyone who has not made a dress before, I hope you will find these instructions easy to follow. Feel free to send me an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com if you have any questions or require more help. Am not claiming to be an expert now but I will try my best to answer any questions you may have.

Logistics for Dress A Girl Australia

3 more days before the month of June ends and I think I have met my goal of 60 dresses by Jun 30 if... and that is a big 'if'...I am able to sew all the fabrics I have cut into dresses.

As of tonight, I have 28 fully sewn dresses and from donated fabrics including the ones I have bought from donated cash from family and friends I have actually cut fabrics good for 36 dresses. The only problem is they need to be sewn. All in all I should have 64 dresses by the end of June. Yehey!

Now all I need to do is find the time to sew these fabrics and hope to have 66 fully sewn dresses by the end of July. Note that I have another target of 40 dresses in addition to the ones I already have by mid-September. By then with 100 dresses Dress A Girl Australia will be ready to distribute.

And I need more dresses to meet my final goal of 250 dresses by the end of the year. To all of you kind-hearted readers, Dress A Girl Australia needs pillowcases and/or fabrics to put a smile on faces of the less fortunate children around the world. Please help spread the word and send some of those unwanted fabrics and/or pillowcases you may have lying around.

For more information about this campaign, please send email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Looking forward to receiving those emails.

Dress by Kikay Designs

Here is Kikay Designs' contribution to Dress A Girl Australia. Just like me, she has never made a dress but look... it is so cute and am sure there is a little girl out there who would fit on it and look pretty with this dress.

Kikay Designs :  It's official ... I can not sew a dress !! -- I tried my best :). My humble contribution to Dress A Girl Around the World - Dress A Girl-Sydney. I hope next time, when I get more time, I can make it better. I just hope somehow a little girl in Africa will fit into this dress :)


Slowly but surely, Dress A Girl Australia is starting to grow and getting more dress donations. Once I received those dresses, it wont take me long to take those pictures and post them on this site.

Stripes and Polka Dots

Another dress made in stripes as this week and the next couple of weeks will be stripes and polka dot fabrics for Dress A Girl Australia.

If any readers out there have unwanted fabrics in stripes or polka dots, Dress A Girl Australia needs them to make dresses for Dress A Girl Around the World campaign.

You can send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com for more information.

Polka Dots this time

One of my nephews celebrated his first birthday today and most of the family members were there to help celebrate. One of the conversations was on Dress A Girl Australia and before we splitted up I was able to raise $30.00 to help Dress A Girl Australia achieve its goal of 250 dresses by the end of 2011. My sister will be on a fabric shopping spree in the next few days and I will have more fabrics to use to make dresses. Thanks to my Mom, Chrissie and Star for the cash donations and Monique and Joan for fabric donations.

This polka dot dress was donated by another sister of mine Marie. She provided the fabric and I made the dress. I was able to make 2 of this from a metre of fabric Marie donated. The girl holding the dress is my niece Samantha. Now I know what to make for her for Christmas. :-)

Two more dresses

Been busy sewing this week and from a donated fabric, I have made 2 more dresses for Dress A Girl Australia.....and have been labelled.

My next blog posting would be the template I used for the armholes for someone who recently enquired about it.

Why only Soft Treasures' dresses

In case you have been wondering why I have blogged and posted pictures only of dresses Soft Treasures' have made, that is because these are the only dresses I have so far in my collection. I will only be able to display dresses made from ladies who have sent me emails about their making dresses when I receive them and they will only be available in early August or September and also waiting for dresses that are going to be sent to them.

So bear with me readers, if all you see are dresses I have made.

Its now an official Dress A Girl dress

The latest dresses I have been making is now an official Dress A Girl Dress. They all have the labels "Hope 4 Women International" tags attached to it. Each dress now has the label attached on the top right corner of the pocket. 

Now all I have to do is attach labels to all the other dresses I have made.

To all those who are making dresses for Dress A Girl Australia, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com if you want to put labels on your dresses.

Need More Dresses...and Good News at the same time

Today is the 17th day of June exactly 13 days before the month ends and I am way behind in my goal of 60 dresses. So far I have made 15 dresses and about 6 more to finish but that is only 21 dresses all in all. I need more fabric donations and/or pillowcases to make into dresses but with 13 days to go and at the rate am going of 1 dress a day am still short of 27 dresses. To all those readers out there with kind hearts and willing to make the less fortunate little girls around the world happy and own at least one dress, please help spread the word ! Any fabric donations and/or pillowcases to a very great cause will be highly appreciated. I am willing to make them into dresses for you. For more information and/or details on where to send donations, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.


But it is not all bad news from Dress A Girl Australia. Last night I received an email from a lady in Queensland who wrote to say that she is starting to make dresses and will be sending them in August. And that she is also collecting dresses from other ladies who want to make dresses. Thank you so much for the wonderful news.


I may not meet my objective by the end of this month but am very positive that the 100 dresses I am attempting to achieve in September will be met.

Hope it fits someone

By this time anyone who reads this blog would know what a fabric hoarder I am. Not only large fabrics but even scraps as well. This dress I made out of 2 small pieces of fabrics which is a left over from a quilt I made several years ago. I kept these 2 fabrics not knowing what to do with it and finally I found a good use for it. I was able to make a dress fit for a 1 year old. I know this is such a small dress but am sure it would find a little baby or little girl who would love to wear it.

Since I started making dresses, every little fabric counts...mix n'match to make into a dress for a little girl to own for every little girl deserves one.

Have you thought about starting to make a dress? Please do! You wont regret it. Or if you really cant see yourself using a sewing machine, then how about just donating a pillowcase or 2 and we will make the dresses for you. When you send in your donation, make sure you write your name/details as the dress we make from your donation will be sent in your name.

For more details, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Looking forward to hearing from anyone.

Soft Treasures: Dresses for Dress A Girl Australia

Soft Treasures: Dresses for Dress A Girl Australia: "I have never made a dress in my life and never imagined I will be making one. Then I joined the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign by Ho..."

Runaway Favourite

This could have been a runaway favourite until I realized that the back of the dress had all the images upside down. haha! Too late to make adjustments as I saw the reverse images only when I was trying to fix the dress for a picture taking.Anyway, still a perfect dress for a little girl to own and to wear.

More dresses...everyone is invited to join in the fun!

Been busy updating 'handmades by Soft Treasures' website after work but still I was able to make these dresses from a couple of pillowcases donated by a friend. Two dresses on 5 weeknights...that's a record for me and one to break. When you know that you are doing something good to make this world a better place, nothing is impossible. I can't wait for Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday to celebrate the Queen's birthday) to show off this picture to my work colleague. Am sure she will be excited to know that one can create a dress out of a pillowcase and one who has not sewn a dress before and never ever imagined it would happen has actually made or sewn a dress out of determination to help little girls who are less fortunate to own at least one dress. 

With this picture, I hope I can convince a lot of people that it is not difficult to do things especially if you want to help and making the dress is so much fun. So come and send me an email (dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com) even if you are just curious as to what this is all about.

Dress A Girl Around the World Labels

Tonight, I finally had the chance to print Dress A Girl Around the World labels (from the template provided by Rachel Eggum Cinader, founder of Dress a Girl Around the World and the Director of Hope 4 Women International) which I need to attach to each dress made by Dress A Girl Australia. I printed 250 labels using 5 cotton inkjet fabric sheets (50 labels per sheet)  using my old inkjet printer. All I have to do now is cut the labels and attach them to the dresses. 250 labels is in preparation for achieving Dress A Girl Australia's target of  making 250 dresses by the end of the year 2011(fingers crossed!).

To those ladies who are starting to make dresses for Dress A Girl Australia, if you want to attach labels to your dresses, please send me an email and indicate on your message the number of labels you require and do not forget to provide me with your postal address.

Another Dress for Dress A Girl Around the World

Inspite of a heavy weekend schedule, I was able to squeeze in making another dress for Dress A Girl around the world. With a limited fabric size, I think this would fit a 4-yr old girl up to 6 I hope. When you think of how you can make someone or a little girl happy, nothing stops you from doing something you like so much such as sewing this dress even if you feel a bit tired.

To those who like to craft or share the same passion as I do, come and join me in making dresses for girls around the world as every little girl deserves at least one dress.For more information, please email me at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Am sure it will be worth it.

Not much done this week

I had all these fabric cuts last Sunday and ready to be sewn this week.

But work took over my schedule to make dresses this week. My original plan to be able to sew at least 3 dresses this week ended up with just 1 dress completed.

Work still is priority as this is my means of livelihood. Depending on my weekend schedule, hopefully I can make up for it with at least 3 more dresses to make.