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Tracy Sews - Pillowcases

July 2006

It had been so long since I had been able to sew.  I was having withdrawals and I NEEDED to just DO IT! 

Have you ever hit a "dry" spell and wanted to sew so very badly but you felt overwhelmed about what to do and worried whether you could get it done?  You don't have a second to waste...and you can't afford to waste any money on something that doesn't turn out?  That's exactly where I was on July 1st.

But, what to do???  I needed a simple project that didn't take a lot of fabric, notions or a lot of time.  I needed to be able to use only fabric and notions from my personal stash and get it done FAST.  Oh yes, I wanted it to be something useful.  Maybe even something I could use for gift making this Christmas (or for "thinking of you" gifts throughout the year).

Ahhh...the perfect pattern for this situation was "Under Cover Pillows" pillowcase pattern.  I made 4 new pillow cases (2 each) for Jared & Jacob on Saturday, July 1st.  Then on Sunday, July 9th I whipped up two more pillow cases for their big sister Natalie who will be attending UCLA this Fall.

The Under Cover Pillow pillowcase pattern is very well written and easy to understand. 

The finished pillowcases I made for Jared & Jacob turned out beautifully (see a picture below).  I am definitely going to use this pattern again and again to make gifts for friends & family. All the edges are enclosed and it looks very professional.  Not only that, but the quality of sewing and the quality of fabric is WAAAYYYYY better than store purchased pillow cases. This pattern is a great way to use up some of your cotton fabric stash and make some really wonderful and useful gifts (or spruce up your own pillow case supply).  Go ahead, use up those wonderful novelty fabrics that you couldn't resist but never could decide what to do with. 

NOTE:  The one caution I will make is that the pattern does NOT provide a tissue for cutting out your fabric. All fabrics are rectangles with dimensions provided. I found it quite simple to use my rotary cutter, ruler and mat to cut the sizes I needed. However, if you prefer to use a paper pattern you will need to make your own. That is very easy to do using "grid" pattern tracing material such as KWIKTrace and a good ruler, yard stick or tape measure. 

Pictures 

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For Jared & Jacob's pillowcases, I used a wonderful Timeless Treasures motorcycles fabric (multi colored motorcycles on a light denim blue roadmap background) with two Fossil Ferns fabrics as the accent & cuff. 

 

The boys love their new pillow cases and have even made me take down a list of fabrics that I need to find so I can make them MORE special pillow cases.

 For Natalie's pillow cases, I used 3 Fossil Ferns fabrics. While Nat was here earlier this year, she looked through my stash and pointed out some bright and colorful fabrics she liked.  

If Nat likes these, I'll make her a bunch more (in different fun fabrics, of course).  I remember living in a college dorm and I don't think you can have too many fresh and stylish pillow cases.