Pillow Case Tutorial with French Seams

I have been having sew much fun!
Playing with scraps, my Aunt Elna and I have been sewing up doll quilts and matching pillows.

It has been a really long winter.... Again.

Don't these bright, happy colours remind you of spring?

Scrappy Medallion doll quilt and matching Pillow Case

This is actually the first Medallion quilt I ever made!

Don't you love the texture created by this fun zig zag quilting?

I was inspired by this tutorial by Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts.

She calls it Honeycomb quilting!

On Wednesday, I shared twin quilts made from my Kate Spain Sunnyside scraps.

There were a few of you who expressed an interest in a tutorial for the little pillows.

So I made one more quilt and matching pillow.

This pillow case was made a little bigger and fits nicer.

The quilts are all 18" wide by 20" long and will fit any 18" doll,

such as American Girl or her Canadian counterpart, Maplelea Girl.

The pillows are approximately 9" long and 4" wide.

For the pillow, you will need one piece of fabric 8.5" x 8.5"

Fold this in half with right sides together.
Using a 1/4" seam, stitch around the raw edges, leaving an opening for stuffing.

Trim the corners to reduce bulk.
Turn right side out, through the opening.
Use a blunt ended instrument to carefully poke the corners into nice sharp points.
Stuff the pillow with polyester batting.

Fold in the raw edges of the opening.
Pin the seam closed.

Top stitch the opening closed and backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

For the pillow case, you will need a 10.5" x 7" piece for the main portion of the case, a 10.5" x 6" piece for the cuff, and a 10.5" x 1.5" piece for the trim.

Press the trim fabric in half lengthwise, with wrong sides together, as you would for making binding.
Lay the cuff fabric, face up.
Then place the main fabric face up.
Place the trim fabric on top, with all the raw edges alined at the top.
Sew a scant 1/4" seam.

Trim the side edges even.

Roll up the main fabric, as shown.

Fold up the edge of the cuff fabric and line up the raw edge with the edge you just sewed.
Pin in place.
Sew a 1/4" seam.

Carefully pull the rolled up main fabric out of the tube and turn the whole thing with right sides out.

Press the cuff flat.

Fold with wrong sides together.
Carefully line up the top of the cuff and the trim to match.
Pin in place.

Sew a scant 1/4" seam along the raw edges, backstitching at each end.
Trim the raw edges to 1/8" and trim the corners to reduce bulk.

Turn the pillowcase inside out.
Press the seamed sides.
Sew a 1/4" seam backstitching at both ends.

Turn the pillow case back right side out.
Press the seams.

Place the pillow into the case.
This photo shows the seam, made using this french seam method, and all raw edges are enclosed.
No stray threads!

Hope you enjoy playing with some scraps and make some cute little pillows, too!

All of these little quilts and pillows are now for sale in my Etsy shop.

If you have an Etsy shop, leave me a link in the comments.

I would love to come browse around!

Keep On Quilting On!