Sewing: Pillowcases Galore

I made several pillowcases for holiday presents this past season. I'm embarrassed to say that one pillowcase took me until last week to finish, but they're all finally finished and mailed off. I'm saving the last-made one for a later post this week, but here are the rest. They are all fun in their own way.

Yoda

You've seen me make a pillow like this before ... except the back fabric is different, and at this point I've basically perfected the envelope pillow cover. I made this for my dear friend Dorothy (one of the MotleyFlue), who loves Master Yoda. The measurements on this baby are almost exact. French seams inside. I dig how badass Yoda looks.

Thomas and Friends

My nephew wanted another set of Thomas pillows for Xmas. I made a set using different fabric for his birthday last September, but I didn't blog about it. I sewed the previous pillowcases as envelope covers. These are more like the typical pillowcases that you buy, open with a wide hem on one end. I just used a standard-size pillowcase that we already had to create my measurements. Again, my measurements for these were meticulous, and they needed to be because of the directional prints.

Invisible Zipper

I made these color-block pillowcases for Joanne's birthday which was in early December ... and, um, she hasn't received them yet. (She'll get them along with her also-late Xmas present, hopefully by tomorrow.) She asked for simple pillowcases to brighten up her couch, but I couldn't make the easy version, i.e. envelope. I knew I needed to use zippers on these. Thing is, I'd never sewed zippers on the edges like this, and I'd never sewed invisible zippers before. I had to do tons of research and look through different tutorials online to psych myself up to do it. In the end, it worked, though I used a slightly different method for each pillowcase. The stuffed pillowcase above isn't how it's supposed to look, but I just wanted to show you how invisible the invisible zipper actually is. (It's supposed to look more full and stuffed; I used a smaller pillow form than what Joanne has, just for demonstration purposes.) I'm happy with the way they turned out, but I am planning to practice sewing more invisible zippers. It's not that difficult, but it is a somewhat fussy business, and this is one of the sewing skills I'd like to perfect ... because I am seriously planning to make a dress for myself in time for spring. :-)

xo, Gladys