A few tips and tricks I've learned since I initially published the pillowcase tutorial!
A while back I published on the website a free standard size pillowcase tutorial. More details here.
I recently found in a store a small travel pillow, about half the size of a standard one. I found it to be perfect for car trips or for the plane when I'm travelling with Andrew. It is small, easy to cary, and obviously, really cute!
Therefore, without giving it a second thought, I bought it, already thinking about just HAVING TO sew a small pillowcase for it. You are well aware that a creative person never misses the chance to handcraft something, even if the final cost is triple than store-bought. But who else in this world has a pillow case like Andrew's?
The pillow is sewn "burrito-style", where the border fabric wraps around the main fabric. Without buttons, zippers, velcro, this pillow sews very fast! In fact, I actually sewed two pillowcases at the same time, because, well...why not?
Something different that I've done compared to the original tutorial was to baste the accent fabric (light blue) to the main fabric prior to sewing everything together. I used the largest stitch length my machine can do, which is 5 mm.
Having used the pillowcase I've made for the tutorial for a few months, I noticed that the accent fabric gets wrinkled and deformed once washed, unless I iron it down. But who has time to iron a pillowcase? Good job to my mom, who's always had starched and ironed pillowcases and sheets. But me....I work 10-12 hours a day, have a little boy, and my husband is mostly gone on deployments. So...I decided to sew the accent to the main fabric on both long sides.
I didn't worry too much about matching the sizes of the fabrics, because, once everything was sewn together, I folded the pillowcase in half, and trimmed all sides at the same time. Then I stitched the raw edges with wrong sides together.
I turned the pillowcase wrong side out, and I poked out the corners using a sharp object, without poking through the fabric. You can use a specialty tool, such as the pink flamingo, chopstick, rounded tip scissors, or thin ruler.
Then, using a larger seam allowance than in the previous step, I stitched on the same two sides. This way, the raw edges are caught inside, and all your seams will be fully finished. Congratulations, you have just learned how to sew a French seam! I backstitched in the beginning and the end of the seam to withstand washing, being thrown around, pillow fights, or tiny curious teeth.
I turned the pillowcase right side up, and cut the stray threads peeking from the seam. Then I ironed the pillowcase, and gave it to Andrew.
And then, as expected, the pillow started to fly around the room, to the ceiling, through the door, and into the walls!
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