Pillowcase Project

I had a request to make four 36" x  pillowcases in beige. Well let me tell you, it sounds easier than it was! It wasn't the actual making of the pillowcases that was hard, it was the search for enough of the same shade of fabric to make 4. The large odd size was complicated by the 44" standard width of fabric for cotton fabrics. It meant purchasing more fabric than necessary since outside of the cuff on top you really can't piece a pillowcase. So finding over 7 yards of a nice beige fabric on a bolt wasn't easy. Most beiges, tans, ecrus, etc. get used as backgrounds so most people buy larger cuts of those fabrics which meant finding a bolt with 7 plus yards left became a mission.

Since I work in a quilt shop luckily some beiges came in by UPS on a day I was working. I entered the bolts into our computer system and quickly purchased the amount I needed before the fabric could hit the shelves. I felt lucky to be in the right place at the right time. So I quickly made all four pillowcases and got them delivered just a few days before my knee replacement surgery. It felt good to get that off my list of things to do before I'm out of commission for a while. 

Star Wars Mandalorian Pillow Cases

I just had to get in on the Mandalorian craze. We got the Star Wars Mandalorian fabric line in the shop on a Thursday and by the following Tuesday two of the bolts were close to empty. So I purchased some of the fabric for myself. 

I whipped up these two pillowcases using the burrito method. The only issue I had is that I had to get a little extra fabric because it's directional. I wanted the print to go a certain way so I had to cut it opposite of how the instructions said. 

So there's some leftover fabric now. I think some more zipper pouches are in my future. 

Pokemon Pillowcase

My daughter bought some Pokemon fabric for my granddaughter Chloe. Chloe asked her mother to make her a pillowcase out of it. Of course, her mother promised her she would make it for her.

Then a few days went by.

Yesterday Chloe came over with her mother and had the fabric in her hand. I asked her why she had it and stated that I thought her mother was making her a pillowcase. Chloe proceeded to ask me to make it for her.

I looked at my daughter kind of puzzled and my daughter's response was that Chloe knew if she wanted it done soon, she better ask me.

That is one smart 6-year old.

So I promised her that I would finish it for her but she had to give me a day to get it done.

I had only made one pillowcase before and it was from a Sweetwater kit. I wasn't sure what the dimensions should be so I thought I would look it up. I remembered one of my sewing friends mentioning a technique that finished all the edges neatly called the burrito technique.  I had to give it a try.

The technique is very easy to do. The flange was pinned to the cuff, then the main fabric pinned to the edge of the cuff as well. Then the main fabric gets rolled up, the opposite end of the cuff is pulled up over the main fabric (like a burrito) and pinned to make a tube. You just stitch it all together then pull the rolled up fabric out of the end of the tube and viola! Then you fold the whole thing in half and stitch the edges. It literally took less than 15 minutes to make. I seriously think it took me longer to read the instructions than to actually make it.

I see many more of these in my future.

Lucy's Ruffled Pillowcase

I finished this pillowcase from a kit I bought from Sweetwater. It was one of the kits available to go with the July (or maybe it was August) Label Crew labels. The example on the pattern showed the good night and good morning placement of the labels but not the sleep label. And because I am finishing this pretty late in the evening, I'm too tired to decide for myself the best place for the label. Maybe after I "sleep" on it it will come to me. So for now, it is somewhat unfinished. I also didn't stitch the labels on yet, as I ran out of ecru thread. I do not know how that happened. I have hundreds (yes, that is plural) of spools of thread but no ecru. As if I need an excuse to go to the fabric store for more! So hopefully tomorrow I can truly complete the project and move on to the next.

Sweetwater's Label Crew

Today I joined Sweetwater's Label Crew. I've been considering it for a while but it felt a little like adding something to my ever-growing to-do list.  And I really don't need any more obligations.  After some thought I realized that the only obligation to joining is to make something crafty or quilty and there's nothing  I like more than that! So why not? Besides, just because I get a pattern and some cute little labels doesn't mean I actually HAVE to make something with them.  I can always just keep them around because they are cute.  That's not so bad. So here are my first month's labels...

 And wouldn't you know it, I just had to go to their Etsy shop and buy the kit to make the pillowcase.  It should be a quick project that will look fantastic in my new sewing room. Especially in this pretty orange colorway.