I had some time and thought I would make some pillowcases for the littlest nephews. The ‘littlest’ nephews are now 2d and 4th graders so ‘little’ is relative.
Still, I thought it might be a fun to give them a pillowcase they could especially use during the holiday season. I won’t have much of a chance to do that as all the niece-phews are getting quite old.
They came out well, but I really had trouble with the directions this time. Once again, I used the Twiddletails tutorial, which has been great in the past, though it isn’t as straightforward as it could be — or it is not written in the way I think. I have decided that what I need to do is measure a pillow case of my own, figure out the dimensions of each piece, take what is good from the Twiddletails tutorial and create my own tutorial. I haven’t posted a tutorial in awhile and it is about time.
I think the problem is the selvedge. I always get confused when I am reading the directions about the selvedge. I don’t know if it matters where the selvedge ends up. I have made notes on my printout and have determined that they are muddying the situation. It could be that I need to just print out a new version of the directions and make other notes. We will see once I measure my own pillowcase.
* This is the second version of this post. The first version disappeared in the move of my blog.
When I make pillowcases, the selvages are on the sides when laying out the burrito/hotdog/roll up. When you purchase the yardage you get enough to cover the length of your pillow. The band is extra of course. In other words if the band is the top then your selvages become the side seam.
The selvages would only be top and bottom if the patten on the fabric is sideways when the pillow is in it and you want to turn it. Then you would probably need a lot more yardage for a longer pillow.
This is very helpful! Thanks for taking the time to explain!
So yardage purchased equals the length of the pillow plus a little more if you like some overhang.
Is this how you measure?
Pretty much. The band takes up some of the length so it should fit. You could also just measure the length of a case that you like the fit of and add seam allowances. We have king sized pillows and I want to make cases for them, but have not gotten around to measuring them. I made a toddler size pillowcase the same way using a travel pillow I bought at Target. I used the measurements on the pillow package and adjusted the case measurements to fit.
14″x 20″ pillow measurements are:
Band: 8″ x 30″
Body: 20.5″ x 30″
http://harriethomemakerstrikesagain.blogspot.com/2012/02/couple-of-recent-projects.html
Thanks. This is helpful. I also found another tutorial that looks pretty good. It is at: http://www.ericas.com/projects/proj0910adult.pdf I haven’t tried it yet, but will soon.
It’s so nice that they included measurements for other sizes! I will have to add this to my tutorials page. Thanks!
Ooooh Send me a link to your tutorials page. I’d love to see what you have listed.
http://harriethomemakerstrikesagain.blogspot.com/p/tutorials.html
It’s a mish-mash of stuff I have done, and others I have used and liked. I use Pinterest more now to keep track of that stuff. I should probably pin the ones there.