Adding a placket to the back of a pillow case dress.

I had seen several pillowcase dresses that tied in the back and wanted to make one.  You can see the first one here.

I am putting the finishing touches on Lila's July 4th dress but I thought I'd at least do a post on how to do it....or should I say how I do it.

I have seen a few posts on cutting in a placket, but I thought why??  I already have a seam.  Why not just use it.  Maybe on a real pillowcase, it would be easier to just cut one rather than try to pick out a serged edge.

I am assuming you already know your cuts and measurements, so I won't go through that.  There are plenty of tutes out there on how to make the pillowcase dress.  This is just for the back placket opening.

First finish your raw edges.  I serged mine.

Note:  I am using a 2 1/4" ribbon for this dress, so my casing is 1 1/4"" wide.  For this next part, use the measurement for your size of casing.  If you are only folding over 1/2", you may only want to measure down 2".  Adjust as needed for your opening.

I measured down 4" (to allow for my extra wide casing), but you use the measurement for your casing size.
Pin from that 4" down to the bottom, and stitch the seam (1/2").  Back stitch really well at that 4".

Press the seam open and simply press back that same 1/2" for the 4" open section.  I flipped one piece over so you can see the open part.

I used my 1/4" presser foot and stitched down one side of that open section, across the bottom and up the other side.  It will look like this.  This fabric wasn't the best to do a tutorial.  :(

You need to find the center front.  I did that by folding the dress in half at the seam line and pressing the opposite side.  You can see the seam to the left in the picture below.

Next, I needed to position the front center and back center together so I could cut out the arm holes.  Line up the center front fold with the back seam and pin in place all the way down.

Before I could cut my arm holes, I needed to fold in my casing.  I measured 1 1/2" down and pressed in my casing all the way around.

This is the back.

Now leave the casing folded down.  Line up your arm hole guide and cut out.

This is how the casing looks.

Attach the binding to the arm hole curve.  I used prepackaged bias tape, but you can make it if you choose.  I press the binding into the curve of my arm hole to make it easier to apply.

Apply the binding as usual.

Notice I opened up the folded edge and ran the binding all the way to the raw edge.

I use my 1/4" presser foot and run a line of stitching across the top edge front and back to make the fold easier.  Press along that 1/4" stitch line.

Fold down again and stitch in place very close to the bottom folded edge.

And it's ready for ribbon.

Back view. Close up.

Back view untied.

Back view - full.

Front view.

It just needs the applique and matching panties, and it's finished.

Please post questions below.  My apologies for some of the darker photos.  I really need better lighting in my studio.

Thanks for stopping by.
Angela