***Originally posted on cregarstyle on September 13, 2014***
Today is our first chilly (sub 80) day in Texas. In fact this morning we woke up to 59 degree air PLUS wind. Whoever says seasons don't exist in Texas is wrong, they just come all in 1 week. Anyway, today has been spent inside, whether we were at the store getting some fall decorations for the house (more on that later), or at home lounging. Since I was not planning on venturing out much more today I decided to do a little pinning. Pinterest is a girl's favorite pastime! So in the process of pinning the afternoon away I found some basic sewing patterns. I haven't broken out my sewing machine since I hemmed my laundry room curtains (seen here) so I decided to search through the patterns to find something I could handle with only the little bit of fabric I have on hand. I settled on this pattern from Crazy Little Projects. It is a simple envelope pillow, which makes me feel great that it doesn't have a zipper. I also simplified it by not adding an additional fabric as an accent.
Armed with my pattern, I headed to my craft closet to search for fabric and pillows to cover. I had initially planned to create a cover for one of our couch cushions but I stumbled upon an old pair of dumpy pillows in the top of the closet. These pillows aren't actually that old as I got them when I lived in my apartment in Baltimore (2010-2011) but they have not faired well. The outside of the pillows have been pulling apart since I got them, which is why they've been shoved up in the craft closet since we moved into this house nearly a year and a half ago. Here's what they looked like before.
This is the good side. Not a bad pillow but not so pretty.
After finding the pillows I had to find some fabric, since I was not going to head out of the house to get any. When Aaron first bought me the sewing machine I had purchased a twin teal flat sheet from Walmart to cut up and use to practice my stitches. I had barely used a square foot of the fabric and had plenty left. So following the pattern on the Crazy Little Projects' web page my first step was to measure the size of my pillows. My pillows measured in perfect 18" squares. Now Amber from Crazy Little Projects had made her pillow cases 1 square inch larger than her pillows and claimed they were slightly too big so I decided to make mine only a tiny bit larger.
I measured out 2 front pieces (1 for each pillow) that were 18.5" x 18.5". Next was the back part, which includes the envelope closure. I followed the recommendation of adding 5" to the length so my 2 back sections (1 for each pillow) measure 18.5" wide x 23.5" long. I used a sheet that already had a hemmed edge so I planned to have my sheet hem be on the edge of each back section so that I would have one less seam to sew. You don't want to have a raw edge on the back where your envelope is, so if you use regular fabric that does not already have a seam, you will need to fold one over and sew it down. I was fortunate to skip that step.
Next I cut the back portion in half so I had two pieces that measured 18.5" x 11.75". I'm sure they weren't exactly 11.75" because I simply folded in half and cut without measuring. You just want them to be close so when your pillow is done it has an overlap for the envelope. I then laid the front 18.5" square good side up and took my hemmed 18.5" x 11.75" section and put the good side down on top of the square. Make sure to match the corners and edges up with the hem in the middle. This will be the part you can see on the back of the pillow. Then take the other section and put it on the other half overlapping the two sections, creating the envelope. I pinned all my pieces to keep them from moving as I stitched them.
It helps to put your pins in perpendicular to the stitches because you don't have to remove them as you sew. You can sew right over them and they are easy to remove after the project is done. Since there is an opening (envelope back) for you to insert the pillow you can sew the complete edge in one go. I did a complete square with a straight stitch being extra careful to double back over the corners. Once I sewed around the complete perimeter, I cut it free from my machine and removed my pins. Then I turned the pillow case inside out and stuffed the old dumpy pillow inside it. DONE! Well, with one pillow anyway. Then just repeat the same steps for the second pillow (or however many you plan to do).
See the envelope?
Back of the pillow with envelope closed.
Front of the pillow, with Delilah in the background.
I think they look pretty good for a first try!
So the first patterned sewing project is complete and no one got hurt! More to come as time goes on and I find more fabric. I am very tempted to make Cowboys and Redskins pillow cases for our living room for football season. Until then...
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