how to sew a pillow case

ola! so i wanted to try and use my sewing machine a little more in the '11 and this was project one. new pillow cases!

the fabric for these started out as a pillow case and a skirt from the gap. i liked the fabric print on both but the actual items were pretty useless to me on their own. I also like to collect prints that I like because usually its cheaper to get a 3$ skirt then to go to a fabric store and pick out a meter or two. also I think this is a great way to use items in your closet that you still love the fabric of but maybe they don't fit as great anymore or your over the style of.

step one is to pick out your fabrics and i also picked up these fugly pillows at a value village for maybe 3$ each. they were well made with thick upholstery fabric and still had plenty of life left in them.

i didn't get a very good picture of step 2 but you basically lay your pillow on top of the fabric and cut out around it. you want it to be a little larger then the pillow itself but if you give yourself about an inch around the edges that will be more then enough. no real measuring is involved just make sure to leave equal distance on each side.

lay your pieces right sides together (which means lay the sides that you want to be shown on the outside together) so your left with the two sides that will not be shown on the outside. line up the edges and pin together if your into that kinda thing.

sew those pieces together! leave about an inch to half an inch on the edges, depending on how much extra you gave when you cut them out.

when you start sewing it together you need to start at the edge of one of the corners and then sew towards that corner. once you get all the way around you should stop again just after the last corner, so your leaving one side almost not sewed. this will become your opening.

as you can see (and my mother will kill me hahah) i was too lazy to switch the bobbin thread and used two different colours. no problem! no one will see this anyway, your going to turn it all inside out.

so this picture below shows the opening that you need to leave on one side.

showing off my seams?

turn that shit inside out! push your corners out as much as you can, if you don't do it now the pillow won't do it and you'll be left with uneven corners.

with all your might get your pillow inside the turned out 'pocket'. now comes the most time consuming part. thread your needle and start whip stitching the shit of that opening.

well i'm pretty sure this is called a whip stitch. make sure to secure the thread at the start of the opening and the end. this thread is slightly more important to match because it will actually be seen but i didn't have white so c'est la vie.

and your done! throw those guys on the couch and take a nap. so easy!

xox