Pillowcases take 2

As I mentioned in my last post, we've received several pillowcases from various hospital stays. They're adorable and we love them especially in the hospital...but what does one need 15 extra pillowcases for?! We do use a lot of them on both kids' beds, but still felt like we had too many. Enter another issue -- a couple of Sarah's rounds of chemo have required her to have a catheter inserted for several days...which completely cuts out the use of pants for those days. We started running low on dresses.....so I made some out of the cases we got in the hospital. Again, I made a couple over the summer, and finished a couple more this weekend.


Using tips from this blog and this, I mixed them together and made my dresses!

The picture quality isn't the greatest (I'm still new at this...I promise my pictures will get better!) and you can't see the black straps on the green dress because of the dark background...but you get the idea. I made the red one and the purple/orange one this summer, and the other 2 were my weekend projects :). Sarah wore the green one for chemo yesterday and has the yellow strapped one on today. These dresses are a little bit big for her now, but the adjustability in the ties will allow her to wear them for at least a couple of years, and then probably as a shirt after that. To be perfectly honest, if the bottom hem was just a little wider, I  could wear them as a shirt if I so desired!

My final process once I combined the patterns linked...

I cut the pillowcases down to 26" by cutting off the closed end of the pillow. Then measured in 3 inches and down 5 on each side and cut out a "j" shaped arm opening. I used double fold bias tape to finish the armhole and form the straps -- cut 36" piece for each arm and pinned it evenly around the armhole, letting the extra come up off of each side, then sewed it together. Once both sides are done, so is the dress! You can add any embellishments you desire -- 3 of mine do not, but on the green and pink one, I added a strip of black grosgrain ribbon around where the green and pink meet.

Sarah likes her dresses, too!

Pillowcases

For my first actual crafty post, I want to share something that's very near and dear to me and my family. Most anyone who will read this probably already knows a little about our family and situation...but in case you don't; almost a year ago (it will be a year on April 15) my daughter was admitted to the Hematology/Oncology unit at Children's Hospital, and the following week was diagnosed with Stage IV Rhabdomyosarcoma. "Rhabdo" is a soft-tissue cancer that can form anywhere, her tumor was in her jaw. The diagnosis was devastating, and it's been a long road since then, but she's doing well. It was at that time and through her being admitted that we learned about ConKerr Cancer. This is an organization that makes bright, colorful pillowcases to put on hospital pillows to brighten a child with cancer's room/life when they are admitted to the hospital. Here's a picture of Little Miss with her first pillowcase (and a beautiful hat that a friend made for her!) She has received 15 pillowcases in total.

So, once introduced to the charity, I decided I wanted to make some of my own to give back to the other kids at our hospital. I made a few early on...

Then I collected fabric as I found it on sale or clearance, and had quite the collection. So a few weeks ago I had a marathon pillowcase day and made another 13 to take to the hospital. 

The pillowcases are super easy to make, and work up pretty quickly, especially doing a bunch at once -- a little bit of time on each step, and then they're all done! I just followed the instructions on the Conkerr Cancer website.

My first post

If you've stumbled across this page, welcome! Over the last couple of years, I've really found my home in crafting, especially when (IF) I can get the kiddos to nap/sleep at the same time, and as a stress-reliever. It's odd that I say stress-reliever, because I totally stress out over projects...but in a very different way. I can escape from life's stress into the much more soothing world of my crafts. I hope that posting about my experiences is both informative and inspirational to anyone who reads this, and I also hope that by having this to keep me accountable, that I get better at taking pictures (at least of finished products, if not the process as well!) and actually getting some projects done so I have something to write about! I have been planning on starting a blog for a while, so I have a few posts already planned....and then I hope to be able to keep up after that!!