In celebration of the start of a new Project Runway season starting tonight, I've sewn, photographed and written this tutorial starting at 6 p.m. central time -- just one hour before the beginning of Season 12 -- with the goal of completing the tutorial before the show starts! Holy cow...I only have 10 minutes as of this moment. Yikes!
Here's the backstory:
Okay, so I'm on orders in my Air Force job right now, and I'm having a make-it-work moment! I arrived at the Air Force base on Sunday night, only to realize I forgot my pillow. DOH! I totally don't sleep well in hotels on strange, hard, overstuffed pillows. So I went out and bought a nice soft pillow and a remnant of fabric to make a quick pillowcase. My pillow's been wearing one of my soft uniform t-shirts for the last three nights!
I have the following meager tools at my disposal for this challenge:
a sewing machine I bought for $17 off craigslist
a pair of snips and older sewing scissors
my computer and iPhone (for a camera!)
a fabric remnant, approximately 1 yard of 100% cotton
gray thread
Here goes!
I just emailed my photos from the phone, but now I have to download them (individually, no less) to the computer...
Step One:
Press your remnant!
Fold it in half and use a standard pillowcase as a guide to cut it to size. Note which side of your cut square will be the end that opens...
On the side of the opening, turn 1/2 inch to the wrong side. Press.
Now turn the same edge approximately 3 inches again, encasing the 1/2 with the raw edge on the inside of the double fold. Press again.
Take it to the machine and topstitch the faux pillowcase band in place approximately 2.75 inches from the folded edge, making sure you catch all layers where you've folded the raw edge under.
Here's what it looks like on the underside...
Press the band again. Fold the pillowcase in half, right sides together.
Stitch along the edges, starting at the faux band, and overcast the raw edges with a zigzag stitch. Obviously, you don't stitch the side with the fold, and you don't want to sew the opening closed. I'm not really sure I needed to say that, but you never know!
Clip the corner.
Turn, press, stuff and enjoy!!
Here it is with the small pillow I really bought to sleep on in it, even though I made it to a standard size. (That way I can still use it on my bed pillow when I get home!
