Free Pattern: Quick Pillowcases

Halloween is always a fun time of year for kids, eagerly anticipating dressing up and going out to collect all their candy loot. Well, these pillowcases are a great way to add to the excitement! They make up quickly and are a great beginner project.

2 yards of cotton prints will create two pillowcases – as you’ll see in my instructions you’ll reverse the use of prints, so make sure they are both interesting to look at as each print will be the ‘main’ fabric in one of the pillowcases.

I used to give my kids pillowcases to take with them for their trick-or-treating, because they were easier to hold on to than the store-made pumpkins and didn’t tear like a bag might. I wish I had come up with this idea sooner – the pillowcases I’ve made this year will be for my grandkids to sleep on when they visit grandma and grandpa, to dream of the treats they’ll gather on their trick-or-treating.

Materials

• 1 yard – cotton fabric (45” cotton)
• 1 yard – coordinating cotton fabric (45” cotton)
• 4” strip of accent fabric (45” cotton)

Cut fabric as follows

• Cut main fabric into two pieces, one ¾ yard and one ¼ yard
• Cut coordinate fabric into two pieces, one ¾ yard and one ¼ yard
• Cut accent fabric into two strips, each 1½” to 2” wide
• Set aside the main fabric ¼ yard piece, the coordinate ¾ yard piece and one accent fabric strip.

Note – these instructions will allow you to make two pillow cases, one the inverse of the other.

Construction

• Fold and iron a strip of accent fabric in half lengthwise, right side out. Make sure you create a good crease.
• Build your ‘fabric sandwich’ as follows, with RIGHT sides up and top edges lined up along the 45” width.
  • Coordinate fabric (¼ yd pc) on bottom
  • Main fabric (¾ yd pc)
  • Folded accent fabric on top

Fabrics in ’sandwich’

• Starting at the bottom, roll the main fabric loosely up toward the top of the fabric sandwich. When you reach the ¼ yard of coordinate fabric, leave it out of your fabric roll. Continue rolling until you reach the center (approximately) of the coordinate fabric.
• Fold your main fabric over the roll, and line the edges up at the top. You will now have five raw edges at the top of your bundle, with the main fabric roll in the center. Note – one edge of the main fabric is trapped in the fabric roll

• Pin this fabric bundle together. Beginners may want to use quilter’s safety pins because sewing through this many layers of fabric without having them shift is not easy. Make sure you only catch the one edge of the main fabric in the seam you are about to stitch.

• Using a walking foot (due to the many layers of fabric), sew through the five layers of fabric as outlined above using a ¼” seam allowance. Beginners may use a ½” seam allowance, but be aware that this will make your accent fabric strip very small.
• Turn right side out – magically that one seam has finished both the inside and the outside of the pillowcase cuff, and the accent fabric at the edge of the cuff.

• Fold pillowcase with right sides together, use your rotary cutter to trim up the edge of the cuff and remove selvages. Pin the pillowcase together, so you don’t get any shifting of the cuff or accent fabric line while stitching, and finish pillow by sewing the side and end of the pillow.
• Repeat construction steps using the fabric laid aside to create the inverse pillow.

Of course, pillowcases are a good project any time of year – I just made these with Halloween themed fabrics because it’s that time of year. But with a pattern this easy, you could have pillowcases for a child’s favorite cartoon character, or for a guest room you could change the cases on those ‘extra’ pillows to suit the season.  As I said above, this is a great project for beginners, so perhaps your child could help with sewing the pillowcase.  The possibilities are endless!
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

FREE Pattern – College Laundry Bag

One of the least favorite tasks for any student is doing laundry. This applies to college students and to high school students who are just learning the responsibility in preparation for college. So I thought it was high time to create something that might make laundry time a bit more enjoyable.

This bag is designed to be made using college print fabrics – but it could easily be made with any other fun print the student will enjoy.

I have created a downloadable pattern page for this project, so I’m not going to re-write the entire project here.  If you are considering making your own laundry bag, I suggest that you download the pattern, and have it printed out as you follow along with a few more detailed explainations below.  Laundry Bag Pattern

One of the most notable design elements is the line of black prairie points that runs down the side of the bag.  If you don’t know how to create prairie points, I have explained it in the pattern, but a more detailed explaination can be found at McCallsQuilting.com.  I used a 6 1/2″ square ruler to make sure I had the points spaced perfectly.

The bag is constructed as a tube, with only a small strip of the coordinate fabric used to accent one side.  Again, you can change this if you want, but one reason to not make the tube using seams on either side of the bag is to reduce stresses on the seams when the bag is overfull (and we all know that’s going to happen at least once).  So if you make changes, I suggest that you still use one large piece of fabric, and one smaller piece for the accent.

Another important step is finishing the bottom of the bag – instructions are included for sewing into the corners of the bottom, this will allow the bag to stand up more easily than if you just used a single seam across the bottom.  It will also reinforce the corners and provide a bit more strength to the finished piece.

A few suggestions to personalize the bag:

• Use blanket tabs (also known as tags) instead of prairie points.  These can be made from a coordinate fabric, or just use ribbon.  I would still use buttons to finish the tabs off.
• Add a pocket inside for quarters.  Or, make a small matching drawstring bag that could fit over the mouth of a coffee mug to collect quarters in through the week.
• Print washing hints and instructions (don’t wash new jeans with white t-shirts) onto a colorfast sheet, then topstitch into the inside of the bag.  This can be done on fusible webbing, and use a decorative blade to trim before topstitching into the bag.

I’m sure you can come up with lots of new ideas… feel free to share a few!
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

September – National Sewing Month

If you have been into a store that sells fabric in the last few days, then I’m sure you already know that September is National Sewing Month. 

What does National Sewing Month mean?  Well, the official site will tell you that it’s “a great time to indulge your passion for sewing and a great opportunity to introduce yourself to the craft if you’ve never tried it before.”  That’s not a bad message at all, but I think there’s something more to it.  National Sewing Month should be a time to celebrate that you are a sewer!  Indulge yourself by getting a new fabric you’ve been wanting, but just couldn’t quite justify.  Or try a new technique or pattern that you’ve been worried about getting started on.

Celebrate that you are a sewer – you can take two pieces of fabric, cut them up in various unusual shapes and sew them back together in a fashion that is not only coherent, but is pleasing to the eye!

Okay, now that the pep talk is out of the way, more about the holiday.  It’s nice to know where events like this come from, so I decided to look into the history of the event.  I was pleased to find that National Sewing Month actually has it’s own website, so the information below is primarily from that site.

Many people believe that National Sewing Month is only a few years old because of the intense marketing campaigns in the last few years. But it actually was declared by President Ronald Reagan on September 21st, 1982 that September would be recognized as National Sewing Month. This was done at the request of the American Home Sewing & Craft Association.

The American Home Sewing & Craft Association later became the Home Sewing Association (HSA) and in 2004 they renewed their dedication to National Sewing Month. In 2005, a full advertising campaign was launched to make the public more aware of this holiday, and for the first time a theme was associated with the holiday for the year: “Sewing… the alternative yoga.”  From that point, themes have been continued for the holiday each year:

2005 – Sewing… the Alternative Yoga
2006 – Sewing… Express Your Creative Spirit
2007 – Sewing… it’s What You Make of It
2008 – Go Green! Sew Green!
2009 – Reuse, Remake, Restyle

In 2008 the American Sewing Guild (ASG) took over the promotion of National Sewing Month along with the Sewing & Craft Alliance. You can find out more about this history, and links to this year’s contest at the official website.

Yes, you read that correctly – there is a contest associated with National Sewing Month, and I encourage everyone who can to join in.  Even if you don’t feel that you can submit your final project for entry, I’d like to hear from those of you that do try to make something in the spirit of the month.   Details on the official rules can be found here: 2009 contest rules, but here is the challenge:

Reuse, Remake, Restyle Challenge
We want to see your most creative ideas for how you implement environmentally-sound sewing into your life.

Have you designed a clever method to reuse a garment that you made and no longer wear? Do you shop thrift stores and garage sales for designer garments that you restyle into bags, totes or ‘vintage’ style garments for yourself? Have you found a way to remake an everyday product into something unique and eco-thrifty? Sew up your best ideas for National Sewing Month and you could be a lucky winner!

My challenge to you – get out there and sew! Sew whatever you like, even if it doesn’t meet the qualifications for the official contest, you will have celebrated that you are a sewer! And I’ll be happy to post pictures of projects that are made this month – just email them to sewingheart @ hotmail.com (sorry, but to prevent a bunch of spam, I can’t give you a link to the email, just take out the spaces around the @ sign and use that as the email address).  By the end of the month, I hope to have so many pictures from you that we’ll have to make a series of posts about them!

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila