I will be the first to admit that there are many times when I find something that I want, that is overprices, that the first words out of my mouth are “Well I could make that!” This definitely applies when it is something for the house that I could possibly sew. A perfect example of this is when I realized how much a pair of Euro sized pillow shams would run me. Are they nuts?
My last comforter set came with Euro sized shams so I went ahead and bought the pillows to fill them. My new quilt didn’t come with them and since I couldn’t find shams that I LOVED, and they were expensive, I just decided to go ahead and make some myself.
After figuring out about how much fabric I would need I headed to my local craft store in search of something that I liked. I lucked out and found fabric that I liked, in a cool print, and in my bedroom colors that was also on sale. Score!
Making these envelope pillow covers is a pretty easy project even for someone with only some basic sewing skills. You can make the whole pillow cover using just a straight stitch and they are removable.
The first thing you need to do is cut out the fabric pieces that you need. You need three pieces total – one piece that is 24″ x 24″ and two that are 16″ x 24.” Make sure that if the design on your fabric has a “right way” that all of your pieces are cut in the same direction.
Once your pieces are cut you need to turn under the long edge, twice, of your 16″ x 24″ pieces. These will become the flaps of your envelope. I turned under about a 1/2″ and ironed it flat. Once you do that you will just need to sew that edge down. I lined up the foot on my machine with the right size of the folder over edge and sewed straight down. You will need to do this on both of your flaps.
Next you need to pin all of your pieces together. Make sure that you put the right sides of your fabric facing each other. I laid the big 24″ x 24″ piece on the floor and then laid one of the flaps along the left side, with the sewn edge towards the middle, and pinned along the right side. Then do the same thing with your second flap along the right side. Lastly pin straight across the top and bottom.
Then just sew all the way around the outside of your cover. I lined up the foot with the outside edge and just ran my straight stitch all the way around. At this point you are actually done and could turn your pillow cover right side out and call it a day. But when your mother was a professional seamstress for most of you life you just can’t stop there. I pulled out my Serger and finished off all of the edges before I turned it right side out. This definitely isn’t a necessary step, but it will help hold things together if I actually decide that I need to wash these things.
So NOW you can turn your pillow case right side out and stuff that pillow in there. It will take a little bit of effort to get the pillow in there, but once you do it will look great!