My "Serve Day" Apron

I love going to a church where serving the community is a top priority.  Every year my church shuts down for the entire weekend - no services at all - and sets out to serve the communities in which we live. On Serve Day, there are over 150 opportunities for men, women and children to give back to their communities, outreach organizations, schools and non-profits by helping in some meaningful way. Thousands of people sign up to join in giving back to the community.

My favorite give-back group is Dress a Girl Around the World. Because I love to sew, I have enjoyed making simple pillowcase dresses for little girls in impoverished countries.  The dresses are made up at monthly sewfests where women like me can spend the day sewing, chatting and laughing. The sewfests are great for teens and youngsters too, as those who can't sew can cut out pockets, iron hems, cut bias tape and elastic or put together kits. Each adorable dress is folded and bagged, with a pair of new panties in the pocket. As missionaries and fellow travelers head for these third world countries, many of them take a suitcase full of new dresses, all lovingly made by hand.

I've made a lot of dresses in the past year so I decided to volunteer to help out on the Dress A Girl Serve Day sewfest.  We are expecting 200 men, women, teenagers and children to come together on May 17th.  If you are participating on any Serve Day project, including the Dress A Girl sewfest, you can pick up a Serve Day T-shirt to wear that day.

So here's the deal: I do not like t-shirts...especially if they are the typical man's cut. But since I am volunteering for this project day, I thought I'd better wear one. As I was standing in line to pick mine up, a great idea popped into my head: You can embellish it somehow! I remembered that our area coordinator Sue had fringed hers at the bottom last year and it was cute. Then it came to me just as I was stepping to the front of the t-shirt line...

"What's the biggest size you have?"

"That would be a XXXLG."

"Okay, I'll take one of those"

It's Dress a Girl, Laurel...make a "pillowcase dress", aka Apron, for yourself. 

1) Cut the top off the t-shirt above the graphic...

2) Cut off the sleeves and turn them into pockets...

3) Add some embellishments to the pockets and casings...

4) Sew that double-fold bias tape on  the armholes just like the girl's dresses.

And Voila!!!! My apron is ready for Serve Day! And by the way, this pattern idea is so easy it would work for anything - a kitchen apron, a swimsuit cover-up, a nightie, or a long sundress.

If you would like to join in on the fun, let me know and I'll get you signed up. Saturday, May 17th! You can come for the morning or afternoon session...or both! You don't have to know how to sew - there are plenty of other tasks to be done to make these little dresses a reality. 

Doesn't every little girl deserve a pretty dress?

Laurel