Last year as I was shopping at my favorite fabric store, I was chatting with the manager about what I’m making and she’s telling me about her projects she’s working on. She then ask if I have ever made a pillowcase dress. I said a what? (As you can tell I didn’t grow up in the depression era) She explained to me how to make a dress literally from a pillow case. I thought this was the craziest thing I have ever heard of. Leaving the store I never thought twice about this strange dress again. As time goes by I begin to notice these dresses everywhere. And then the custom orders start coming in this spring for them. I never thought in a million years I would be making these but they are really so popular.

This past weekend my boyfriend’s father came over to visit with us. I cooked up a big lunch and we sat at the table and chatted away. He has the most fascinating stories I could just listen all day. He begins to tell us a story about needing to get school clothes for all five children. Keep in mind, this was nearly 60 years ago. With very little money their mother Sue purchased a pillowcase pattern from the store. Since she had bad eyes and couldn’t see well enough to sew, she would cut out the dresses and he did the sewing. They made a great team! The next day they sent one of the daughter’s off to school in her new dress making sure to give her a belt so the other children wouldn’t make fun of her. As she came home to their surprise she was smiling ear to ear as all the children loved her new dress.

This story really makes you sit back and think about how lucky most of us are today as we can dress this simple dress up with such beautiful ribbons, laces, and other embellishments. So lucky to have had someone think this up so long ago. Makes you wonder if they ever thought it would come back like this.