Vintage Look Pillowcases

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Hello my Farmgirl friends! I recently made some of the sweetest pillowcases and shared them on my personal blog with a tutorial. I’ve had so much interest in those pillowcases as well as my tutorial, that I decided it needed to be shared here too.

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I’ve seen similar pillowcases to these on Pinterest through the years and have planned to duplicate them many times. But the problem is that I never found fabric that I really loved! When this new fabric collection called Flower Market came out, I knew instantly that this was the fabric for the pillowcases!

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So, lets get started!

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Gather Materials:

• four different fabrics of choice for each pillowcase
• lace, ribbon, rick-rack, any trim of choice
• matching yarn
• yarn needle with a sharp point
• crochet hook (size H) side note here:  do not worry if you don’t crochet…there are workarounds!
• sewing machine
• basic sewing supplies
• rotary cutter and ruler 

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Step One:  Gather your four fabrics.   Tips on your fabric selection:  they don’t have to match or go together exactly.  I definitely did not want a “matchy-matchy” look.  However, using a “collection” of fabrics that are different but yet compliment each other is very nice.  

Step Two:  Use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut your four pieces of fabric to the following sizes:

• backing piece:  31″ x 21.5″ 
• piece A: 18″ x 21.5″
• piece B:  9.5″ x 21.5″
• piece C:  5″ x 21.5″

Now, here’s a really great thing about these pillow cases.  There are NO raw edges on the inside.  I love this part.  So we are going to sew French seams… if you’ve never done them before and have always wanted to learn then today is your day!!!  Follow my instructions carefully: 

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Step Three:  Lets sew the three smaller fabric pieces together using a French seam.  Sew fabric piece A to fabric piece B.  Sew along the 21.5″ edge, WRONG sides together.  (Did you catch that?  WRONG sides together!)  I sew with a scant 1/4″ seam.  Which technically means LESS than a 1/4″.  

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Step Four:  Now, turn those two fabrics RIGHT sides together, fulling encasing that 1/4″ seam.  I pressed the seam to make it nice and flat.  Now you will sew them together again but this time your seam will need to be at least 3/8, because you will want to make sure to completely enclose the first seam.   

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Step Five:  Repeat the above steps but now attach fabric piece C to fabric piece B (which of course is already attached to fabric piece A).    Then lay it out on the ironing board and press those seams down very well.  Don’t they look beautiful not having any raw edges showing?  

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Step Six:  Gather all your lace, ribbon, and other trim.   Lay them out on your front panel and choose what you think you’d like to use.  

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Step Seven:  I chose to sew the trim pieces along the seam where the fabrics A, B, C joined.  Obviously you can do it however you want.  I also kind of layered a few different trims… it gave it a real nice effect!

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Step Eight:  Once you have completed sewing your trim pieces, press your front panel.  Lay it on your cutting mat and using a ruler and a rotary cutter, cut each long side until there are no pieces of trim hanging over the edge and it is nice and straight.  

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Step Nine:  Now let’s attach the back to the front panel.  Do this the same way you did steps 3 and 4.  Do the French seam on the bottom edges first and then complete the side edges.  I use sewing clips (or pens) to hold the two large pieces of fabric in place so that they didn’t slip.  Sewing French seams does require good straight, smooth seams.   Once you’ve completed the French seam on the bottom of the pillow case, repeat the process on both sides.  

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Step Ten:  You have a pillow case now!  Take it to your ironing board and on the top (opening) edge, iron the front side to the back about 1/4″.  Press it well and then fold it over one more time and press again.  Use clips (or pins) to hold it in place.   Sew a stitch right along side that edge all the way around.  

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Note:  Your pillowcase is technically complete at this time!  However, if you would like to add any trim to that final opening this is the time to do it!  I chose to crochet a scallop edge to mine and wow do I love it!  If you crochet, this will be a breeze for you!  If you are an “every now and then” crocheter (like me) you might need to watch a few YouTube videos to remember how to crochet a scallop!  And if you don’t crochet at all, then sew on some other form of decorative trim!  

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Here is how I added my crochet edging:  

I used a needle that had a large enough eye for yarn, but had a very sharp point and I sewed a blanket stitch along the entire edge.  I probably should’ve marked the distance between stitches, but I actually just kind of eyeballed a 1/4″.  

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Once I did that, then it was ready to crochet the scallop edge!  Like I said, I’m a total beginner at crochet and definitely cannot teach it!  But this at least shows you how I did it!  

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Now that you’ve made one pillowcase… keep going!!!  

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I’m laid up right now from foot surgery… I have a great little “crib” (smile!) set up on my couch where my foot has to elevated above my heart and I’m loving my four gorgeous pillows with my boot propped on them!!! At least THAT makes me happy, even if the air cast boot doesn’t!

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Happy fall, my Farmgirl friends!!!

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Until our gravel roads cross again… so long.

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Dori