Tutorial: Making a V-shaped pillowcase

Recently I bought a v-shaped pillow to make sitting up in bed more comfortable, but I could only find a plain white slip cover to fit over it.  I fancied something a little more exciting, so I thought I’d make one with this absolutely gorgeous bee upholstery fabric sent to me from Dalston Mill in exchange for a review and tutorial on a website called Cut Out and Keep (link here).

Dalston Mill kindly sent me 2m of this fabric, and then I bought some large pompom trim from my local haberdashery, and that was all I needed other than the sewing basics (needle, thread, shears etc).

Here’s how you could make one for yourself!

You will need:

• 2m of 60” wide fabric (without nap/directional print)
• 4m pompom trim (optional)
• Thread to match
• Sewing machine (zipper foot would be useful for attaching pompoms)

Method:

1. First of all, open your fabric out to single layer, then fold cross-grain just enough that you can cut two pillowcases. Don’t forget to add seam allowance!
2. Next, cut around your pillowcase as a template, again, remembering to add on the seam allowances, otherwise it will be too small! If you have pinking shears, you could cut with these so that you don’t need to finish the raw edges later.
3. One of the ends needs to be longer than the other, so that it can fold back in on itself. This is the bit that you tuck over the end of the pillow when you put the case on.
4. Finish the raw edges of the long end and the short end by sewing a narrow hem.
5. Place the pieces right sides together. Fold the enveloping longer piece back against itself, wrong sides together, so that the folded edge is level with the finished edge of the shorter piece.
6. If you are skipping the pompom trim, you can go ahead and sew the seam. Starting at the open end (which will have three layers of fabric), sew all the way around the V until you come around to the other side of the open end.  Finish the raw edges to prevent them from fraying (unless you cut the fabric with pinking shears).
7. If you are adding a pompom trim, insert this between the two pieces of fabric, having the raw edges even, and pompoms facing away from the raw edges, towards the middle. Carefully pin or clip in place, then sew as detailed in step 6.  I used a zipper foot for this, to help me pass by the pompoms.  At the corners of the closed end, you may need to snip into the pompom trim to help turn the corner neatly.
8. Turn your pillow case the right way out, check your pompoms are positioned how you would like, and hey, presto! You have a lovely, handmade slip-cover for your pillow!