Little Boy Bedroom Part 4 - Pillowcase

Hello again!

So...we have the wall canvases...the lampshade...the roman blind...now we move on to the bedding.  The pillowcase to be exact!

The kind of pillowcases we use here have a flap on the inside to keep your pillow from falling out.  I have recently found out that these are called "Housewife Pillowcases".  As opposed to the ones with no flap, which I believe are called "Bag Pillowcases".  I much, much prefer them with a flap.

I made my pillowcases out of a yard (36" by 42") of fabric.  You might need more or less depending on how many different fabrics you want to use, and if they have a "direction"

You will need:

• Fabric:

Pillowcase back - 18.75 inches x 35.25 inches

Pillowcase front - 18.75 inches x 24.75 inches

Contrast - 18.75 inches x 8 inches

Trim (optional) - 18.75 inches x 1.25 inches

 

• Coordinating thread
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Sewing machine
• Iron

Cutting layout (if using one fabric only):

 

Start by cutting out your fabric pieces.  You can cut them all from one fabric, or play with it and have different fabrics for the contrast and trim pieces - all up to you!  I often mix it up.  You should end up with four pieces like this...or three if you aren't going to add a trim.

If you are adding a trim - this is your first step...fold it in half, wrong sides together

Yuck - I need some hand cream! :)

Give it a decent press with your iron to get a nice sharp edge.

Next, line the raw edges up with the raw edge of your front piece...like this...

You will notice that I cut the trim in a different direction to the rest of the fabric.  I actually fussy cut mine - so that I would have the robot's eyes peeping over the edge.  This is one of the things you can play around with just to make your pillowcase a little different.

Next - I basted these two together, using a 1/4 inch seam so that they don't wriggle about for the next step...

...which is enclosing the entire front within your contrast piece.  I believe the term for this is the "Burrito" method.  It gives such a nice finish. 

First...roll up your front piece like this...

Then, place it on top of your contrast piece (which should be right side up) - lining up your raw edges again on the left.

Last - fold the right hand side over and down to match up the raw edges on the left...like this...

Here it is again in full length...

Pin the layers together, then off back to the sewing maching to sew a 1/2 inch seam all the way down...

You will end up with something like this...  Grab the fabric from the centre of it, and pull it through and out.

So that you get this...the completed front of your pillowcase.

Make sure you give it a good iron now along the left edge and the trim particularly.

I then like to topstitch - using a slightly longer stitch length, just along the edge of the trim - maybe 1/8 inch away.

Like this...

Ok.  Front done.  Onto the back.

Lay out your back.  See that raw edge at the right?  We are going to hem that now.

Fold it under 1/2 inch, then under again another 1/2 inch.  Sew a 3/8 inch seam along the edge.

Nearly there...!

The last step is to attach the front to the back.

Lie your back piece down, right side up, hem to the right side.

Lie your front piece down on top of it - aligning the left side raw edges, face down....

See that bit on the right?  That is your fold over. 

 

 

So fold it over the end of the contrast piece, like this...

 



Make sure all your cut edges match up nicely.  Pin it if you need to to keep it in place while you sew.

Still with me?  Making sense?

Pop back to the sewing machine, and you want to sew a 1/4 inch seam along the three raw edges (two long, one short).  I then serged/overlocked mine - or you could zigzag them on a normal machine to stop fraying.

Turn everything through the right way and you are done!! 

One finished fold-over pillowcase...

...ready for you to pop your pillow in.

Then give to someone special...

And of course, then everyone will want you to make one!

 

 

The room is nearly done!  Just the quilt and wall decals to go!

 

FYI - the fabrics I used in this tutorial are my own designs (click on the image for the full repeat):

Go and have fun making your pillowcases!