Pillowcases, pillowcases

I've decided to jump on the 1 Million Pillowcase bandwagon.
Rather late than never, right?

You can read about it over here but basically the American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine folks have issued a challenge to have 1 million pillowcases made and donated to charity by the end of 2010.
They have some wonderful buttons for your blog over here.
When you make and donate pillowcases you can update their list and add to the total.
They have some great pillowcase patterns over there, but when I was on retreat earlier this month I learned an AMAZING (and very easy) technique that results in a pillowcase with absolutely no seams showing.
Bonus: If you don't know how to make French seams, you will be able add that to your repertoire when you're done!
Interested?

Magical Pillowcase (also known as "burrito" pillowcase) Tutorial
* My pillowcase (and the tutorial) uses three fabrics - a main fabric, a cuff/contrast fabric, and a trim fabric. You can of course make the pillowcase using only one or two fabrics if you'd like.
* I'm also assuming that you're using 44/45" wide fabric.
* The pillowcase pattern makes a standard pillowcase. If you'd like to make a Queen or King pillowcase, the measurements and fabric requirements are at the bottom of the PDF version of this tutorial.
* You will need a relatively large flat surface like a dining room or kitchen table.

For each (standard size) pillowcase you will need:
3/4 yd (27") main fabric
1/3 yd (12") contrast fabric
1/8 yd trim fabric

1. Cut a 1 1/2" wide strip of trim fabric, selvedge to selvedge. Fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.  Press. (Note: this will result in a very narrow trim section as in my pillowcase above.  If you'd like your trim a little wider, just cut this strip a little wider.)

2. Cut the main fabric 27" long by 41" wide.

3. Place the contrast fabric (12" by the width of the fabric) right side up on the table.

4. Place the folded trim fabric on top, matching up the raw edges.

5. Place the main fabric right side down on top of the trim fabric, once again lining up the raw edges.

6. Pin. (Note that the main fabric is a little narrower than the trim and contrast fabrics. Don't worry about this right now.)

7. Roll up the main fabric ONLY, until about 3" of the contrast fabric are exposed.


8. Fold the exposed contrast fabric over the main fabric roll and line up its raw edge with the raw edge you pinned in step 6.


9. Re-pin, undoing the original pins as you go and making sure all the raw edges are lined up.

10. Stitch a 1/2" seam along the raw edge. Oops!  A little wonky.

11. Turn the pillowcase right side out by pulling the main fabric section out through the side opening of the "burrito".

12. Lay flat (WRONG sides together) folding the cuff exactly in half and lining up the trim seams. Press. You will now have a nice cuff with a little trim sticking out. How cool is that?
Trim off the excess cuff and trim fabric.


13. Now we're going to sew French seams. Line up all the raw edges. Note that you have the wrong sides of the pillowcase together and not the right sides like you will when sewing regular seams. Pin along both raw edges.

14. Stitch the side and end of the pillowcase, using a scant 1/4" seam.

15. Turn the pillowcase wrong side out. Use a chopstick or knitting needle to push out the corners. Be careful though. If you push too hard, you'll go straight through the seam. Press.

16. Stitch along the side and end of the pillowcase again, this time using a 3/8" seam. This will enclose the raw seam edge.

17. Turn the pillowcase right side out. Push out the corners again to sharpen them. Press.
Voila!

Most very high end pillowcases do not look this good.

Now...
If you'd like to make some pillowcases for charity (or yourself for that matter), I've carefully selected some fabric combinations which will make very cute ones.
There are kits in the store and I'm working on more so keep checking in.

You can either
1. Donate your pillowcases to a charity of your choice (be sure to contact them first to see if they can use pillowcases)
or
2. Write "CHARITY" in the comment section of your kit order and I will include a SASE for you to send your pillowcase back to me. I will then donate it for you and update the challenge database.
(Unfortunately I can only do this for US orders. If you're an international customer you are certainly welcome to send me your pillowcases but regrettably I won't be able to cover the shipping costs.)

Let's see how many pillowcases we can contribute to this great cause!

(Edited to add: I am not accepting donations for the Million Pillowcase Challenge any more but please enjoy the tutorial for your own use.  Thanks!)

(I have created a PDF version of this tutorial which you can find over here. I'll also be announcing a pillowcase design contest within the next few days, so put on your thinking hats.)