It's been a while...

I realised just before that I haven't posted anything on this blog for nearly a week! Needless to say I have been keeping busy. Last Sunday and Monday were incredibly hot days here. I found that the roof insulation is doing a good job; it was cooler inside the house than outside. SE Qld had big storms on Monday afternoon/evening which brought some relief from the heat. I bet those poor people in the flood zones got quite anxious as many areas of the city have flash flooding during and after storms.

My sewing room has a ceiling fan so I worked on some projects in relative coolness during the hot days. The room also has french doors opening on to the front deck and the breezes were very nice too! I was making pillowcases ready to take to my craft group on Wednesday. I ended up making 4. Another lady brought in some pillowcases which she also had made and she put them on the 'Show and tell table'. People were surprised that she made them...'no one sews pillowcases' was the comment made...well I do and I also make fitted sheets and of course flat sheets. There are some beautiful sheeting fabrics around and it is so economical! Here are some pictures showing the progress of one way I make a pillowcase. I use this method when I have a large piece of fabric to work with as I start off with a long long strip! I've already mentioned in a previous post that there are tutorials on the internet that explain the 'tube method' of making pillowcases. My method here is the 'envelope' type of case.

 I start with a strip of fabric twice the length of the pillow, plus a hem (about 2 cm) and the envelope flap. (about 16cm) The width of the strip should be the width of the pillow plus 2-3 cm for seams. The measurements used here were 163cm by 50cm.

 On one of the short sides, sew a narrow hem. On the other short side sew a deeper hem.

 With the wrong side facing up, turn down a flap about 13 cm. In the middle place a few pins to stop the fabric slipping.

 Flip it over so the right side is uppermost. Then fold over the long strip so that both short ends match. This means that right sides are together.

 Pin (optional) the long sides and sew both sides. Iron the seams on the wrong side and then turn out pillowcase to right side.

 Here is one pillowcase on a pillow and the photo below shows that flap that helps keep the pillow from coming out of the case.

Now I have a confession! When I took the photos I actually did something wrong which I later fixed up on subsequent cases. The narrow hemmed width should be on the piece I turn down for the flap and the larger hem is on the back of the case. But then again...what is 'wrong' ?... as long as it looks like a pillowcase and can be used successfully as a pillowcase it doesn't really matter does it? lol