Burrito Pillowcase

I belong to a sewing group that is comprised of amazing women.  I joined the group last year but the ladies have been together for about five or six years.

The sewing group is called "Sew Much Fun".  We get together twice a month for about two hours at a time and create projects for charity.  All the fabric and notions have been donated by local businesses and people in the area cleaning out their fabric stashes.

Everything we make goes to charity in one form or another.  We make items to sell at a craft fair each year and are able to give money to charities through the sales.  We also make items specifically for charities such as book bags for the library and senior center, duffel bags for children having to leave their homes, and pillow cases for the children's home.

Another lady takes all our scrap fabric and makes dog beds for the local animal shelters.  Nothing goes to waste.

This month we are making pillowcases, book bags, and finishing up projects from last month.

Here is a terrific tutorial by The Twiddletails Blog that I followed to show you the pillow cases we are making.   What's unique about these pillowcases is that there are no raw edges showing.  It's also a great way to learn a French Seam.


Our pillowcases are a little different than the actual tutorial in size but not by much.  Depending on your pillows, you might want to play with the size a little.  In the tutorial, the pillowcase also has a nice trim feature that you might like to try.

Fabric Measurements:

Body of Pillowcase is 26" x 41"
Band of Pillowcase is 26" x 10"

 Pin right sides together of the body and band along the 26" side.  Sew using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Right sides are still together and you've sewn along the edge attaching the band to the body of the pillowcase.  Now you want to roll up the body.

Bring the bottom of the band up and over the rolled up body and match edges to edges.

Pin  the band together at the edges enclosing the body of the pillowcase.

Sorry for the change in band/body fabric.  Sew the band raw edges together leaving the sides open.  See the body rolled up inside the tube?

 Band is sewn and the body of the pillow case is rolled up inside.

Pull out the rolled up body of the pillow case through one of the openings of the band tube.

Isn't that the coolest thing?  Now your rough edges are nicely tucked up inside the band of the pillowcase.




Our next step is to create the French Seam that will hide all our rough edges throughout the remaining pillowcase.

Pin wrong sides together (the inside of the pillowcase together).  Stitch using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Trim all the way around leaving the top of the pillowcase open.

Trim as close as possible to the seam and make a diagonal cut at each corner.  This will make turning the pillowcase wrong-side out and making the final seam.

Turn pillowcase right-side out and retrace your stitches.  This time you'll want to be sure to catch all your raw edges, so use a 1/2" seam allowance.

Look at that!  No raw edges and a clean seam all the way around the inside of the pillowcase.

Your turn:

Do you belong to a sewing group?  Ever wanted to get one together?  What projects have or are you currently making for charity?

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