a magic pillowcase tutorial!

A couple weeks ago I did some sewing with my girls and a couple of their friends.  We made some easy peasy pillowcases.  The girls called them magic and thought it was so neat how we made them.  I'm not sure if most everyone knows this method, but if not I thought I'd share how I did it.

Fabric you need~

3/4 yard (27 inches) of the main fabric
1/4 yard (9 inches) of coordinating fabric for the cuff
2 inch strip of solid fabric for trim or 44 inch long crochet trim

Cut all your fabrics and press.  Trim off the selvedges so they are all the same width.  I layer my 3 fabrics with the folds matching up and then trim all three together.

Press your 2 inch strip (to make a 1 inch strip) and your 1/4 yard cuff strip in half with wrong sides together and right sides facing out.

 Unfold your cuff fabric and lay it out with the right sides facing up.

Place your main fabric on top of the cuff fabric with right side facing up, and then the 1 inch folded strip on top of the main fabric.

  Match up the raw edges.

This is how it should look at this point.  Now comes the magic part!  :)  Take the bottom of the main fabric and start rolling it up.

 Roll the main fabric to the center of the cuff fabric.

Take the bottom of the cuff (pink floral) fabric and bring it up over the roll and match up the raw edges so you have a tube.

Pin your 4 layers. The bottom cuff, the main fabric, the trim fabric and then the top layer of the cuff fabric that wrapped around over the roll.

See how it is a tube.

 Sew a 1/4 inch seam.

Pull your main fabric out from the tube.  Now you have your cuff, trim and main fabric sewn together!  Its magic I tell ya!   :)

Now trim off the uneven edges.  I had it folded like a pillowcase with right sides together and then trimmed.

To sew the edges of the pillowcase together using a french seam fold your pillowcase in half the other way by placing wrong sides together (right sides facing up).  Pin along the side with the raw edges and the bottom that has the raw edges.

Sew a 1/4 inch scant (a little smaller than a 1/4 inch) around the edge and bottom to enclose your pillowcase.

Turn the pillowcase so the right sides are together and wrong sides are facing out.    Press.

Sew a 1/4 inch seam around the side and bottom.  The french seam encloses the raw edges.

Yippee,  we're all done!!  Wasn't that easy peasy!  :)

If you prefer to do a  regular seam instead of a french seam, just sew a 1/4 inch seam and then I advise to do a zig zag stitch since pillowcases are washed often.

For extra sweetness you can add crochet trim.  I just love this delicate touch!

Now have fun making lots and lots of them.  :)

And for special occasions like going camping!  :)

My sister in law, Katrina and I had fun making these cute boy ones last night for our camping trip we are having over labor day!  Our boys were so excited to see that they get pillowcases too! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and enjoys the holiday week-end!