Sleepover Pillowcase Tutorial

Sleepovers are one of my fondest memories as a little girl.  I loved staying overnight with my girlfriends, watching movies, giggling and trying to see if we were able to stay up the whole night (which never actually happened).  I had a really neat sleeping bag that I took to sleepovers and I always felt really special when I brought it over to my friends houses.

So, here's a tutorial to make your darling little lady her very own "special" sleepover pillowcase.  This pillowcase would also be great as a special "travel" pillowcase or would be super-cute for a little toddler going to daycare who needed a nap-time pillow and blankie.


Supplies:
Different patterned Fabric
1 package of rick rack
Fusible interfacing (such as WonderUnder)
Sewing Machine
Thread
Iron and ironing board

Directions:

First you will need to cut your fabric pieces.  The pieces are sized as follows for a large standard sized pillowcase:

Main body fabric: 27" X 42"
Cuff fabric: 11" X 42"
Ruffle fabric: 5" X 88" (will need to cut 2 pieces 5" X 44 and stitch together)
Rick Rack: 42"

Here are your fabric pieces after they have been cut.  Next you will need to sew them together - 1/2" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

For the main body of the pillowcase you will need to sew one shorter side and one longer side - right sides together.  As you can see here, I used my serger, but simply for convenience, you can definitely use a regular sewing machine for this.

So you should have one side open after you have sewn the other sides together.  Then turn the main body of the pillow right side out and press with your iron.

For the cuff, you will need to sew the one shorter-side of fabric - right-sides together.

This is what your cuff will look like after you have sewn the one-side together.  Then turn it right-side out and press your seam open.  For the cuff you will need to fold it in half long ways, wrong-sides together.

To make the long ruffle pieces, sew the ends - right-sides together.  Once you have sewn the ends together you will have a big circle.  Then you need fold it in half (wrong-side together) and press with your iron.

To make the ruffle, you need to set your sewing machine on the longest straight stitch possible.  Then stitch around the entire circle on the raw edge side (not the fold) - 1/8" seam allowance.  Do not back-stitch at the beginning or the end or the gathering will not work.

This is what your ruffle piece will look like after you finish your long straight stitch.

In order to gather and form the ruffle, you need to pull on one of your threads.  Keep doing this until you reach the desired ruffle length.

Once you have formed your ruffle, pin it to the main body of the pillowcase.  The ruffle should be pointing inward towards the main body.

Stitch your ruffle onto the main body of the pillowcase.

This is what your ruffle will look like after you have stitched it to the main body of the pillowcase.

Next you need to attach the cuff.  Pin the cuff the same way you did the ruffle.  The folded edge should be pointed inward towards the main part of the pillowcase and the raw edges should be towards the outside.

Here is what the cuff will look like before you stitch it down - make sure you pin it well.

Once you have sewn the cuff and the ruffle, press them with your iron in the opposite direction that they were sewn.......see, doesn't it look nice and pretty now?

If you don't care to attach the rick rack trim, then I would suggest top-stitching on top of the pink (main body) 1/8" seam allowance to secure the ruffle and cuff into place.  If you are going to attach the trim (in the next step) then don't worry about this step.

Pin your rick rack right on the seam between the main body of the pillowcase and the ruffle.  Pin all the way around.

Stitch the rick rack into place.  Do this by sewing down the center of the trim.


This is what the rick rack will look like after you have stitched it to the pillowcase.

If you would like to add a monogram or name to the pillowcase then simply cut out letters out of coordinating fabric and follow the directions on your fusible interfacing to secure them to the fabric.

Then zig-zag stitch around each of the letters.  You can also do a simple straight-stitch, I would just recommend using fray-check around the edges so it will still look nice after washing.