How to Make a Magic Pillowcase
Jen shows you how to make this "Magic Pillowcase" using the "burrito" method. All seams are hidden! Jen also has suggestions for gifting, and for French seams.
- Magic Pillowcase Pattern (full color, step-by-step instructions for 3 sizes)
NOTIONS USED IN THIS VIDEO:
- Snip in Style Scissors (no longer available)
For personal use ONLY, not for commercial production. No part of this pattern may be reproduced, shared, or distributed in any form unless given express written consent by Shabby Fabrics. Not to be used with any online classes or video tutorials other than the official Shabby Fabrics tutorial. All designs, photographs, and images are protected by federal copyright law. All rights reserved.
Video Transcript:
Hi! I'm Jennifer from Shabby Fabrics, and today I have an extra special tutorial to share with you: how to make the coolest pillowcase ever. A friend of mine showed me this technique and I absolutely love it. The coolest part is you don't see any seams. Let's look at the pillow behind me. Just three fabrics, and it takes almost no fabric, and you have the neatest gift. Now, I know we all love to make quilts, but wouldn't that be great to give not only a quilt but also a coordinating pillowcase? Such a special gift, and so easy. So I want to show you how we make this amazing pillow.
I did not come up with this technique, I don't know where it actually has come from. But it's been around for years apparently, but I only learned about it just a couple days ago and I'm like 'I have to share this with you.' So, three fabrics—you want to get an inspiration piece, and for me, on the pillow back here—of course I love pink, so I grabbed my cute little pink rose print, and had a nice little accent. That's kind of your 'zinger', we call that the trim piece, and then the cuff. So we'll refer to these as the main fabric, or the 'body' of the pillow; you'll have your trim piece; and then this will be referred to as the cuff.
Inspiration piece, for me, was this cute little gingerbread piece. And then I wanted to pull out some of the other colors that were in there, and of course these are all in there, so that makes a great combination. Remember these three numbers: 3, 9, 27. Three times nine is twenty-seven. So what does that mean? Of the main main fabric, your inspiration piece, you'll cut 27 inches times the width of the fabric. And for your accent piece—that's this little piece here—we'll be cutting a 3-inch strip all the way across the width of the fabric. And then for the cuff you'll be cutting the 9 inch piece.
With the main fabric I begin to roll it up—try not to disturb that top row because we want everything to stay together—so I will roll it until it's about at my accent piece. Now the cuff will come up and over and meet all of the other raw edges, and we will begin to pin. And when you're pinning you want all three fabrics—all of those raw edges need to be together, so you want to take your time on this. Don't rush this, because if you have one of the fabrics dip down below it won't be caught in this transition the way that it needs to be. So I will continue pinning, and then when I have that all pinned we'll come back together and we'll take that to the sewing machine, and we'll sew that seam all the way down the long side.
Now that the tube has been sewn, we'll just clip and trim off those threads. This is where the magic will happen. You literally reach inside it and you will begin to pull out the main body of the pillow, and it will reveal itself with no seams. It's all encased inside. So we've got the main body, our accent, and then our cuff.
I prefer French seams because the seams are hidden. So we go wrong sides together, and I pin. I always secure my stitches when I sew anything, but especially something like this that will be turned right side out and wrong side out and keep flipping it. So once I get that sewn all the way around those two sides, we'll come back and we'll go to the next step.
Now that I've sewn around the two sides, I will come back with my rotary cutter and my ruler and I want to trim the quarter inch seam that I just sewed down to about an eighth of an inch. That will help make the French seam actually possible which is coming up in the next step.
Another great recipient of a pillowcase like this may be a shelter in your own community. There may be a shelter for women and children, and you know when someone's hurting emotionally, just the slightest gesture can mean the difference between that person having another lousy day and having hope that the future can be better. And so, please don't ever underestimate the power of when you give a gift—something as simple as a pillowcase can make a difference in someone's life and so there are so many opportunities to volunteer and to give that really do make a difference for people.
French seams take just—this is the extra step that a French seam is because now what we'll do is actually go where we just—there's our seam. Can you see that right there? That we will kind of—you have to kind of work your way out, and you have to kind of work it out with your fingers, and then I pin again. I'm a pinner when it comes to projects like this. I don't pin as much in quilting, especially when I'm just piecing, but when I need something to come together just right: take the time to do the pinning. So we'll work this out.
So just to recap: 27 inches for your main fabric—that's the body of your pillow. For your cuff you'll be using a 9 inch piece, and for your accent 3. Three times nine is twenty-seven. It's very easy to remember.
Now I know that there'll be many of ladies and gentlemen that might even want to make a pillowcase for someone special, and so for that reason we'll be putting together some kits. And the kits will be constantly changing so that you have a nice variety of kits to choose from on the website. Inside the kits there will be no instructions. You will need to come and watch this video in order to be able to assemble the fabrics that are in your kit.
So I hope you enjoyed watching this tutorial on making this amazing pillow that has all of the seams hidden, and I hope that you'll subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can enjoy more free tutorials from Shabby Fabrics.
