Open-end Pillowcases

Sometimes I get a little bit stressed about how much fabric I have. I still have a lot of fabric from the time I went to town here. And since an ample assortment of linens is something I envy, why not use up some of this fabric and give myself a few more inches in my linen stack? (That worked for me.) These are easy - probably a little easier than these pillow cases I did earlier - but both are great beginners projects. Details after the jump.


You'll need:

• 2 yards of fabric
• Pins, sewing machine, measuring tape... all of that lot.

If you're curious, that bottom illustration is a section. My mind thinks this way; I'm not sure about everyone else.

This should fit standard pillows with a bit of extra length on the end, which I prefer. If this you don't prefer, take about 2" off the long side.

From your fabric, cut two pieces 20.5" x 37". Stack the pieces on top of each other, right sides facing, and stitch around two long sides and one short side. I used a serger for this but you can leave the edge raw or do a zig zag stitch over the edge. You could even add half an inch to each side and do french seams. Oh, la la (see what I did there?).

On your open end, fold the raw edge in 1/2" and press in place. Do this on both pieces of fabric. Next, take the edge you just folded and fold it in 4" on each piece of fabric. Pin in place.

Stitch around this inside fold (where the pin is) as close to the fold as you can. To get some use out of all of the extra stitches on my machine (and because I am becoming markedly girlier by the week) I used this loop-de-loop stitch.

When you've stitched around, flip inside out, press and you're done!