Tutorial ~ Seriously Simple Pillow Case

I have been itching to clean and decorate our front porch for a while. I have been doing that here and there, but the recent nice weather is making me wanna do more...

Ever since we moved into this house, where to spend our limited resource (yes, money to be exact) is our constant struggle. There are always "needs" and "wants". Mr. TRH is better at making the distinction between those two and goes with the "needs". Me? Not so much. I am a pretty practical person, but I "want" to decorate the front room or I "want" to get beadboard in the bathroom and paint, woo can't forget the perfect towel and soap dispenser too! Well, that is my inside voice. We usually meet at a happy medium, but I didn't like to pay as much as we did for a water softener (also, that is part of the reason why I slipped and fell in the shower!). I appreciate the soft water very much... but I could have done so much around the house with that money too.

Ok, I got sidetracked... I was looking at outdoor pillows online and the ones that I liked cost around $50 to $60 a pillow. I wanted several that could easily cost me a couple hundred dollars! I decided to do a quick sewing session last weekend.

Thanks to Joann Fabric's sale, I scored the outdoor fabric and pillow forms for 50% off, yay!
Online version ($60) vs mine (around $12)


I will share a very simple pillow case tutorial, in case you have been looking for one. The beauty of this style of pillowcase is, you don't worry about piping, zipper and all the other fusses, and because it is a very minimal style, it costs less as well.


{You will need}

Pillow form -- Mine is 18"x 18"
Outdoor fabric -- well, if you are making one for the inside you can just get regular fabric, of course!
Thread

{How to}

* Before you begin --- The outdoor fabric I bought is 100% polyester. You need to check your iron setting before you iron, so you don't melt and shrink the fabric.

1. Fold the fabric in fourths and trim the edge. Because my pillow form is 18"x 18", I added an inch for seam allowances(1/2" for one side and 1/2" for the other).
Cut fabric for 19"x width of the fabric.

2. I brought the ends together to test fold and overlapped both ends by 9" in the back, add 1" for both ends for the seam then cut off the excess.

3. Fold both ends 1/2" twice and sew.

4. Fold the fabric again like you did in step 2 and pin the seam. Because I wanted to match the stripes exactly, my finished pillow case is slightly off. If you are working with solid or all over pattern fabric, this process becomes easier.

5. Sew both openings with 1/2" seam and treat the edge with your favorite method to prevent fraying.

6. Turn the fabric inside out and press with iron.

Now, it is ready to stuff the pillow form and enjoy!

This is one of my new favorite places. As for me, satisfaction comes from the knowledge that I didn't break the bank to decorate our home and I am getting the results that I imagined in my head. I will see you at next post everyone, I am gonna go outside and sip my lemonade. :)