Pillow Cases
If you have old blankets lying around the house with holes in them, do not throw them out just yet. Leave out the torn out parts and use the rest for pillow cases!
Steps
- Lay one of your other pillow cases flat on a surface and measure the height and width. Take down the measurements.
- For one pillow case, you will need the exact width plus an additional two inches for sewing, and twice the width plus an extra 10 inches or so. This is because as you may have already noticed, there is an additional flap tucked inside that keeps the pillow from falling out. Cut out long strips from your old blanket according to the above measurements.
- Sew up both ends of the width approximately half an inch each to keep it from fraying. These folded up flaps should be on the back of the piece of cloth.
- Now, fold the remaining additional eight inches inwards and pin it down. Fold the entire cloth into half length wise (including the pinned down flap) and pin it down once again. Make sure you fold it inside out so that the stitches remain inside. It is important to pin down your cloth through out the process to avoid it from running. Besides that, pinning down your cloth also makes the sewing process easier later on.
- Sew both sides of the length about one inch in. Remember to keep the end with the flap open.
- Once you are done, turn the sack right side out. You now have a completed pillow case.
- Repeat for the remaining pieces or until you achieve the desired number of pillow cases.
- An alternative to step 5 is to make temporary stitches slightly less than one inch in, turn the sack right side out, and sew piping onto both sides. After that, you can remove the temporary stitches.
- If you wish to decorate your pillow case, you should do so right after you have sewn both ends of the width. Remember to leave 8 inches away from the end for the flap. Your decorations should go on the half near the flap as this should be the front of the pillow.
- When decorating your pillow case, be mindful not to include anything that might get your hair caught onto the pillow case, or anything that might scratch your face such as sequins and beads.
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenore-m/1421983889/
