Enjoy a very quick project that anyone can do on a basic sewing machine - a pillowcase! Have a pillow case ready in 20-30mins with this quick tutorial.
"Sewing is my therapy."
For this quick tutorial we will be needing 100% cotton woven fabric in 3 colours. When making homemade pillowcases I prefer to have the largest piece of fabric the "eye catcher" - so something with characters or a lovely design on it. The other two colours often will compliment the colours within the main design on the pillow case.
Next it is important to understand what some terms mean when sewing with cotton woven fabric as a base. Cotton woven in general frays on the cut edges. To create a nice clean pillow case with NO fraying edges inside we will be using a wonderful technique called a French Seam that incloses all raw edges of this pillowcase.
When talking about cotton woven as a base fabric I want you to understand the image above. Often times seamstress's will use the term selvage edge - this refers to the edge of the cotton fabric that is finished from factory. This edge is usually thicker and has the logo of the company printed on it that designed the fabric print. Again this edge will not fray unless cut and even then it tends to fray less. The cut edge is the edge where the fabric is cut off the bolt of fabric from the store - this edge can quickly turn into a fraying mess if you leave your cotton fabric bunched up overtime or wash it without finishing this raw edge on a serger.
What you will need specifically for this pillow case is follows:
3/4 Yard Cotton Woven (Main Fabric base of pillow)
1/4 Yard Cotton Woven for Pillow Case end (Try to get something non directional for this)
1/4 Yard Cotton Woven for Accent strip on pillow (Again try to get something no directional)
Pillow Case Photo Tutorial
Lets begin by cutting out the fabric pieces we will need first. I used my 1 yard of custom print fabric I had on hand and folded the fabric in half so raw edges were touching (The Cut edges).
From here you can measure across the cut edge 27" wide. Make a mark on this edge. Then use a ruler to make a straight line the whole way up the piece of fabric (Going same way as the salvage edge). Cut through both layers of the fabric that you folded in half. This will give you the main body of your pillow case that you will need.
2. Next will be the end of the pillow case. Now the reason I suggested a non-directional print for these two accent pieces is because of the way fabric is cut off the bolt. Pictured to the left is a 1/2 Yard piece of cotton woven. You can already tell if I were to fold the raw edges together it is not long enough to span the whole height of the pillow case piece we just cut. To save you money and waisting fabric you may not use later this is why I recommend a non-directional print. You can even get just a 1/4 Yard too for this piece. You can then fold selvage to selvage since cotton woven really does not stretch that much. It does not matter what way you use it! Measure 9" wide on the fold and approx. 19.5-20" long across the raw cut edge. Cut out this rectangle.
Alternatively if you are using a direction print for this outside edge piece you would need to buy 1 yard of fabric and fold it raw edge to raw edge much like we did with the main body of the pillow. So keep that in mind as the direction/print on your cotton woven matters for how much you may need so that the print goes the proper way.
3. Just like with the edge piece I like to give my pillows this accent piece. Again I am using a scrap piece of fabric here that still is long enough and was again cut as 1/2 Yard piece. This means again I need to fold this piece selvage to selvage in order to get the length to be long enough.
You will measure and mark the piece 2" high on the fold and 19.5-20" long along the raw edge. Cut this out appropriately.
4. Let us prep the accent piece. Pressing this piece in half with an iron will really make your finished piece stand out. I cannot recommend enough how important an iron is. It also makes sewing a breeze! So don't skip this step.
5. Lay your 9" edge piece of pillow case down (mine is blue here) and line the raw edge of the accent piece (Yellow here) up to 1 raw edge of the blue piece.
6. Take the main body piece of the pillow case and lay it down onto the sam raw edge but right sides touching!
It is important here that IF your pillow case end (Blue here) and accent piece (Yellow here) is slightly longer than your body of your pillow case - trim the length so they match up.
7. When the top raw edges of all the fabrics are lined up we can slowly start to roll the main body fabric upwards. This is where the magic starts to happen.
8. Roll it up enough that it is somewhat in the centre of everything.
9. Grab the opposite raw edge (That is blue in step # 8) and fold it upwards. This will encase the whole fabric into a burrito with all raw edges together on the same edge.
Pin across the raw edge (I used wonder clips here) and sew this edge closed with 1/4" seam allowance.
10. Once the seam is sewn we can grab and pull the fabric out of the tube.
11. This is now what you should have completed once the fabric is pulled outside of the tube.
it is definitely starting to look like a pillowcase!
12. If you peek at the backside you also will notice that there is NO raw edge here on the inside of this pillow case end!
13. Next I personally like to stitch the accent piece down to hold it in place (Yellow piece here).
So over to my iron I went and pressed everything nicely. Then I stitched with 3.0mm stitch length at 1/8" seam allowance.
I prefer to tack this in place so it doesn't flip up randomly later on with use. I don't want it bothering my face at anytime!
14. The last two steps are super simple so let us get finished up.
To create the French seams or "Hidden seams" and hide the 2 raw edges that are left - fold your fabric together with wrong wides touching. Make sure the right side we can see! As per the image to the left. Clip/pin both raw sides together.
15. Sew around the 2 raw edges of the pillowcase ON THE RIGHT SIDE with 1/4" seam allowance. It seems odd but I promise it works wonders here.
16. take some scissors and cut away the excess fabric from the 1/4" seam we just sewed. So basically you are trimming the 1/4" seam allowance down to 1/8" which is half of 1/4". Do this carefully with either a rotary blade or scissors.
17 . Finally we can turn the pillow inside out. We can't the wrong side facing us. Take your iron and iron the pillow case well - especially the edges to make them nice and crisp.
When ready sew at 1/4" around the same 2 edges we just sewed but this time we are on the inside of the pillow.
This means you have just created a French Seam - it has successfully hidden any raw edges within your project! Turn the pillow right side out and enjoy :) !
Happy Pillow Making!
Want to check out a few more traditional sewing patterns? I am slowly working on bringing more and more sewing patterns to my shop and not just embroidery patterns! Check out the few I've published below.
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