Pillowcase tutorial

The pillowcases we will be making in class are a lot of fun to sew and come together quickly! They will be done using the "burrito" method- which creates beautiful french seams on the inside. (French seams leave no raw edges.) We'll also be adding a cuff and some trim to make it look polished!

Begin by folding your trim piece in half lengthwise, with “wrong” sides together.  Iron flat.

Next, place your “cuff” piece down in front of you, with the “right” side of the fabric facing up.  Place the raw edges of the folded trim piece along the top edge of the cuff piece and pin them together.

 Next, place the “main” piece of fabric on the top of the first 2 pieces, but the main piece needs to be facing down.  Re-pin along the top, to include all 3 pieces of fabric.

 Continue pinning until the entire main piece is pinned together with the other pieces.

Now, begin rolling up the main fabric, to get it out of the way.  (This is the beginnings of making your “burrito”.)

Then fold up the bottom edge of the “cuff” fabric up and over the rolled up “main” piece of fabric.  Line up the edges and re-pin again.

 

 If you look from the side, you’ll see that the “cuff” fabric completely surrounds the “main” fabric.

Just be sure that you have the first edge of the “cuff” fabric along the bottom, the two edges of the “trim” fabric (since it was folded in half), the edge of the “main” fabric, and then the other edge of the “cuff” fabric on top.

Next- begin to sew all of those edges together, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Make sure all the layers are lined up nice and straight. (And for my new sewers- don't forget to remove the pins as you sew! We don't want any broken machine needles!)

Now, from one end, begin pulling out the “main” fabric out, from the inside of the “burrito”. Keep pulling until the cuff begins to turn itself right side out as you pull.

 

 Once it’s completely out, it should look like this:

 Iron the cuff flat. 

It should look something like this when finished....

Next top-stitch the cuff next to the trim. This will help the pillowcase stay nice and flat after its been washed.

 

Now, with the fold still at the top, fold the entire thing in half by folding the left side over onto the right side, with the “wrong” sides of the fabric together.  (Don’t worry, I didn’t lose my marbles and forget to fold “right” sides together….we’re creating the french seam here.)

    (If you are confused where to sew- look closely at the picture above and you will see where my pins are on the bottom and right sides of the pillowcase.) Sew down the right edge and along the bottom edge, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

  

Now you should have a pillow case shape….but with raw edges along the right side and along the bottom- as pictured above

Next turn the entire thing inside out and press flat, poking out the bottom corners and making the edges as flat and even as possible.  Then sew along the edges (on the wrong side of the fabric)  (making sure that those are the same edges that were sewn in the last steps), using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Now, turn the entire thing right side out and again, poke your corners out, and iron flat. Now you should have beautifully encased seams on the inside, AKA “French Seams”.  Easy Peasy- your pillowcase is finished!

I hope all the instructions made sense- by no means am I great at writing on-line tutorials! if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask me!