Easy Patterns for Pillow Cases

Creating your own pillow cases can be a fun and easy way to save some money and let your creativity flow. Here's an easy pattern for a pillowcase with one main fabric and two additional pieces for accents. Follow these directions to have a new pillowcase in less than an hour.

Step One - Prepare the Fabric

Preshrink the fabric by washing and drying it. This will ensure that you do not have excessive shrinkage after your pillow case is complete. Note the care instructions on the bolt of fabric when you purchase it, and wash the fabric accordingly.

Find the grain of the fabric to ensure you sew the pillowcase on a straight grain. Fabric always will rip on its grain, so you can use your scissors to to make a small snip of about an inch perpendicular to the selvage end of the fabric, and rip it all the way across. You will then use the new top edge you ripped and the selvage edge to line up to cut the fabric.

Step Two - Cutting Your Fabric

To make a standard size pillowcase of 21 by 36 inches, you will need to cut your fabric for the main portion of your pillowcase to 43 inches wide and 30 inches long. Most fabrics come in 40 to 45 inch long bolts, so in many cases you can just use the width without cutting it, but be sure to measure it so that you are sure of the size.

Repeat Step 1 on the 1/2 yard of coordinating fabric to ensure a straight grain, and cut the fabric to 43 inches by 12 inches. Cut the band for the transition fabric to 2 to 5 inches and 43 inches long. If you are using a ribbon for the transition, simply cut it to 43 inches long.

Step Three - Sewing the Pillowcase

You can now begin putting the pillowcase together and sewing it. Pin the main piece of the pillowcase to the transition band or ribbon, placing the right sides together. Fold the fabric that you will be using for the end coordinating piece in half lengthwise, and pin it to the main piece and ribbon piece, placing the right sides together. This will give the coordinating piece at the mouth of the pillowcase a double thickness. Be sure to pin the loose edge of the coordinating piece and not the folded edge, so that the folded edge creates the opening of the pillowcase.

Sew the layers together using a 1/2 inch seam. Use the iron to press the seam allowance down on the reverse of the pillowcase, as well as press the ribbon or band on the front so that it lays flat on the pillowcase. Use either a serger or a zig zag stitch on the seams to prevent unraveling in the wash.

Now you are ready to sew the pillowcase closed. Pin the remaining edges - one is a fold, so there will be two edges to pin. Sew along these edges, press the seams and finish them off with a serger or zig zag stitch.