Quilted Pillowcase - Make it Yourself!

I've been doing lots of home re-vamping so it was only a matter of time before I got to doing a home tutorial!

This one is a quilted pillowcase! For some reason or another, we had this pillow on the couch with this really ugly fabric. I actually don't even know where this pillow really came from either - things just appear in this house and beg me to improve them.

The original pillow has the exact size triangles as my version on the right but the fabric is so close you can hardly tell! This pillowcase is also made from all scrap fabric in my sewing room. I guess I tend to really over-buy fabric. The brown was from a pair of menswear pants I made back in 2005 in college, the yellow (I really think I picked it up at a thrift store long ago) will be familiar if you've seen the top of my Mix N Match dress, and the green polyester is from when I constructed my mom's apron.

This is my little sketch of the pillowcase before making a triangle pattern and an edging pattern. You only need 2 pieces! I don't know exactly how many yards I used since it was all scrap fabric, but I would guess it was about 1/2 yard for each color. I'd go ahead and overbuy to 1 yard each color just to be safe.

If you can read in my photo, you want to cut 24 triangles (12 for each side) and 4 edging strips. I don't include seam allowances on the photo, but I always use 1/2" for all seams except hems and 1/4" for enclosed seams on garments. You only need to use 1/2" all the way around on each piece after drawing shapes in the sizes I wrote.

This pillowcase fits a giant pillow that is about 36" X 21".

• Triangle: the 2 legs are 10 1/2" long and then the hypotenuse is about 14 1/2". Just connect the 2 legs diagonally and your triangle will be fine! Cut 24.
• Edging: 20 1/2" X 2". Cut 4.

 

I don't know if this is a quilting "thing" as I have never quilted before, but I ended up folding my fabric about 4 times to get 8 triangles cut at once. HUGE time-saver!

 Next, I highly recommend laying out your pieces. This is how I chose mine to look like - I didn't want any of the same color touching. I think this pillowcase would actually look fabulous in just black and white.

In this photo, I am matching up the hypotenuse (the longest edge) according to my layout and sewing all those edges first to make squares.

I don't think I need to say this, but pressing your seams is really important. I got to use my brand new Ikea ironing board!

Next, I sewed the seam in between the blocks to have 3 in a row sewn each.

 After that, sew those 2 rows of 3 blocks together in one long seam (good side to good side).

After that, you want to apply the edging on the sides. Dummy me didn't get photos of that, but you can see the edging in this photo below: 

Repeat those steps for the 2nd side of the pillow.

Almost done! Next, good side to good side, you want to align both sides together. I stitched around only 3 sides, leaving the edge where you stuff your pillow open.

After those sides are sewn, you want to enclose the edge like you would a hem on a dress.

 And then.... finished! This room has such a 70s look to it. I chose fabrics that wouldn't compete too much with the other colors happening but kept it in the avocado/yellow/orange color scheme.

And Percy helped! The embroidered pillow he's sitting nearby my mom hand-embroidered in high school, circa 1974. I wish she had the pattern for this still because I want more like this!

If you make a pillowcase like this from my pattern, please post! I want to see!
Happy sewing!