Adventures In Beautiful Bedding
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A couple weeks ago, during a little extra time between appointments, I just happened to find myself in the vicinity of Craft Warehouse and decided to pop in “just to have a look around.” I am truly old enough to know better but I did it anyway and ended up spending the entirety of my entertainment budget for the month. I don’t even really feel bad about it. I should…but I don’t. Disgraceful.
Among my purchases were a few pillowcase kits with some very pretty fabrics. The kits were attractively packaged in such a way that you could easily see how the main fabric, the cuff, and the accent fabric would sit on the pillowcase and complement each other. And the instructions were included on the inside of the label. I did read the instructions and then immediately disregarded them to instead construct the pillowcases using the “burrito method.” I’m going to detail the steps below with pictures, but if it turns out that doesn’t make sense, you can view a 10 minute YouTube tutorial on the general method.
Although the kits were convenient, with the fabrics chosen to go together nicely and already cut to the right dimensions, you can easily do this without a kit. If you decide to work without a kit, you’ll need 3 different coordinating fabrics that are all 44-45” wide. For the main part of the pillowcase, you’ll need a piece that is 27” x WOF (that’s width of fabric, for you muggles…44-45”). For the cuff, you’ll need a piece that’s 9” x WOF and for the insert or accent piece (which is optional, by the way, but recommended cuz it’s just so darn pretty), you’ll need a piece that’s 2-3” x WOF.
Iron all your fabrics nice and smooth and then fold your accent piece in half lengthwise, with right sides together, and press. You should end up with a long folded strip that’s 1-1.5” wide. Lay your main fabric out with the right side facing up and the long edge at the top. Lay your accent strip along the top edge with the raw edges toward the top, meeting the raw edge of your main fabric. Then lay your cuff fabric in the same orientation but with the right side down. Pin or clip this edge together, being careful to make sure your raw edges are all lined up together.
Next, flip the cuff fabric up, exposing the main fabric and accent strip underneath. Working from the bottom edge, roll up the main fabric into a relatively tight roll and bring it up as close as you can to the top edge without disarranging your other two layers of fabric.
Next, bring the cuff fabric back down over the top of the roll that you just made and wrap it under the roll, bringing it up the other side. You will be bringing the bottom edge of the cuff (the edge that’s not already pinned in place) around the rolled up main fabric and back up to meet the raw edges. Essentially, you have wrapped the cuff around the rolled up main fabric. Re-pin everything with the new edge added in; be careful to make sure all your raw edges are meeting up. You should have two layers of cuff, one layer of main fabric, and the double layer (because it’s folded in half) of the insert piece.
Take a moment to check your long burrito shape. The rolled up fabric inside needs to sit far enough back from the pinned edge that when you do your seam, you won’t catch any of that rolled up fabric in the seam. Then stitch along that pinned edge using a 1/4” seam.
Now you’re going to turn this burrito inside out and reveal some magic. You’ll start by tugging the rolled up fabric out of one end, but soon that will become difficult. As soon as you also start rolling back the cuff fabric, the turn will happen quickly and easily. Et voila! An attached cuff where the seam and the raw edges are fully encased and the accent piece lies nicely over the main fabric of the pillowcase. Take the time to press this carefully.
Once it’s all pressed, lay your fabric out with the selvedges to the sides. The edges of all three of your fabrics need to be even and they are almost certainly not. Trim off enough on both sides that you have a nice even edge and have gotten rid of most of the selvedges. If you have a tiny bit of selvedge remaining, that’s fine. Your next two seams will eat up another 1/2” off either side, so no one will see the selvedge remnants. A cutting mat, a rotary cutter, and a quilting ruler are really best for this. If you don’t have any of these items, then you can use some scissors, but draw a line and then cut along it. These edges really need to be straight and even.
Now we’re going to finish the pillowcase with French seams, which sound (and look) fancy but are really pretty darn easy. Lay out your pillowcase folded into the final configuration with wrong sides together. Yes, WRONG sides together. Pin the two sides that will need to be sewn and sew them with a 1/4” seam. You will have quite a lot of bulk where the first seam you made is, and you might find a hump-jumper helpful to get you over the thick bit.
Once you’ve sewn this seam, you’ll need to do a little trimming. First, clip the corners (don’t cut into the seam!) and then using a rotary cutter and quilting ruler (or scissors, if you must), cut 1/8” off the seam allowance you just made.
Now turn your pillowcase inside out, carefully poke out the corners and seams (a bone folder is very handy for this), and press. Then pin along the seam line you just pressed, and sew it again with a 1/4” seam. Again, the bulky bit will be even bulkier with another seam in there now, so a hump-jumper is helpful.
Turn your pillowcase right side out, and you’re done! Take a moment to admire how beautifully finished your pillowcase is…not a raw edge in sight!
You can press it again if you want, but it’s not really necessary. It’s going to be wrapped around a pillow and it doesn’t need to be pressed for that. I just sort of smoothed mine out with my hands and called it good. If you wanted to give it as a gift and wanted to press it for better presentation, I suppose I could get on board with that. But I’ve made one for my nephew and one for me (you can guess which pillowcase is which, I’m sure) and I didn’t do a final press on either one. These are a quick and easy project that would make a lovely little gift for just about anyone.
