How to Make Your Own Pillowcase -

How To Sew A Pillowcase With Directional Fabric, burrito style and with French Seams

This pillowcase tutorial pulls out all the stops! I’ll show you how to make a burrito pillowcase with directional fabric on ALL 3 pieces – main fabric, cuff and optional accent piece. I’ll also show you how to put the cuff on the right or the left – on purpose every time. 🤣 (I’m not the only one who got that backwards before, right?)

MATERIALS:

Main Fabric – A
- 1 1/8 yards if using directional fabric
- 3/4 yard if non-directional
- Cut to 40″ x 27″
Cuff Fabric – B
- 40″ x 9″
Accent Fabric – C (optional)
- 40″ x 2″
Sewing Machine & basic supplies

One thing to note about using all directional fabrics:
If you don’t have long strips of fabric for the cuff and accent pieces, you will need to buy 1 1/8 yards but only use 9″ or 2″ strips. You could mix and match using one print on the main fabric for one pillowcase and the cuff on 2 other pillowcases if you have a few to make. Consider your options and check your scrap pile!

🎯 SHORTCUTS TO SPECIFIC TOPICS:

01:13 What direction the fabric should go
02:16 Fabric requirements
04:30 Prep cuff and accent fabrics
05:30 Pin pillowcase fabrics together
05:50 How to make a cuff on the right or left
06:50 Add main fabric
07:57 Burrito fold pillowcase technique

09:09 Sew tube together
09:18 Pull main fabric out of the cuff
10:05 Add optional decorative stitching
10:47 Finishing with a serger
11:11 How to sew a French seam
12:59 How to use a magnetic seam guide
13:30 Turn right side out

In this tutorial I used fabrics from my Happy at Home collection for Riley Blake Designs and love how they turned out!

I love making pillowcases, especially for kids. My son loved having holiday themed pillowcases, pillowcases with his favorite sports teams, sports, movies and more. My niece and nephew requested new pillowcases for Christmas, one wanted pizza 🍕, one wanted avocado 🥑 and the other wanted cats 😻. I had to search a bit for the food fabrics but found them.

Have you made pillowcases before? Who do you make them for and are they for everyday, an occasion? I’d love to know! You can find detailed written directions on my blog.

If you make and share pillowcases or other projects featuring my fabrics on social media, please tag me as I love to see what people create! You can find me on Instagram or Facebook.

😴 Sweet dreams and happy sewing! – Tara Reed