Buttoned-up Pillowcase

I had a very productive weekend! (In spite of a very bad case of cough and colds... aargh!) And I'm so excited to show you what I've been working on.

don't you just love my new pillow? I know I do!

I was most excited about this one because I love the way it turned out! I almost violated my "No-Internet-On-Weekends" rule to post about this one the moment I was done.

You see, a few weeks ago, my mom gave me this blouse and told me I can do whatever with it:

She only recently bought it but after a couple of sessions in the washing machine...

Uh-oh... the fabric tears easily... this hole was along the hem at the bottom of the blouse. I initially thought of creating an applique or a patch... but it just seemed so obvious and I know I will never be able to wear it like that. I've been playing around with the idea of chopping the entire bottom half and sew in the bottom half of a t-shirt... but in my head, I don't think it's something I will be able to wear in public :)

So this blouse ended up on my stash and stayed there for a couple of weeks until inspiration hit me last week (don't you just love it when that happens?). I was admiring some pillow projects online and I was thinking of buying fabric to make some new pillow cases for my throw pillows when that blouse popped into my head. It's a perfect match for my current color scheme of cream and gray!

Last weekend, I got to work. I have already worked out the process in my head by this time and this project was so easy... literally only took a few minutes to make.

STEP 1: I laid out the blouse (size 14... though sizes run a little smaller here in Asia) and used one of my pillow cases to see if I have enough fabric for the case I wanted to make (my pillow cases are 16" x 16"):

I did!!! Great!

STEP 2: I pinned my 'pattern' (i.e. pillow case) on the blouse and started cutting around it. I put in around 0.5 inches allowance for the seams.

STEP 3: I now had the front and back pieces of my pillow case. I turned both sides inside-out and sewed along all sides.


STEP 4: Pop open the buttons... turn right side out... insert pillow inside and... I was done!

I admit... I did not hem the edges before I sewed the seams. I thought about it... but I was too lazy and I figured I didn't mind if it frayed inside.

Hope you all had a great weekend. More projects to be posted, this week so stay tuned! :)

Since this is link-party-worthy... I joined these link parties:

CraftOManiac | Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Sew Chatty | It's So Very Cheri | The Tattered Tag | Tatertots & Jello  | Tea Rose Home | Somewhat Simple | The Girl Creative | Sew Can Do |