DIY: Mardi Gras Pillowcase

Grab your sewing machine or borrow one from your tante! The kids will love their Mardi Gras pillowcase and it's pretty simple.


Materials:
1 yard of Mardi Gras cotton fabric (actually 35" would work better)
thread
ruler
scissors
iron


Gather your materials. Bring selvages (finished edges) together and fold in half. Cut fabric so it is 20 1/2" wide.

Open up the fabric so it is a rectangle. Along one short edge, press down 1" as shown in the picture above. This will be part of the banding at the opening of the pillowcase.

Once the 1" is pressed, then press down 4". This is all done on the same edge. Stitch down the band close to the bottom (the one with the 1" fold). To spice it up, you could use a contrasting thread and/or zig-zag stitch. You could also add rick rack once you have stitched down the fold.

You should have a band across the top of your soon-to-be pillowcase. Now on to the side. I use a french seam to keep the inside nice and tidy, but you can use a regular seam. Above is a picture of the first step of the french seam. With wrong sides together, stitch 1/4" seam. Once you have the 1/4" seam, turn the pillowcase inside out, open it up so the seam can be pressed flat. Then, fold the pillowcase in half along the seam you just stitched and press.

Stitch along that fold 1/2". Once complete, it will look like the above picture. Just to mention again, a regular one-step stitch will work, but the edges of the fabric will ravel. This is ok. It's just my preference to use the french seam. With the side done, move onto the bottom and stitch it closed. I used the french seam on this as well. I also made a 1" seam because the pillowcase was too long. Your pillowcase is now finished!

Here are the Halloween and Christmas pillowcases I made last year. This idea can go beyond holidays to include special days such as birthdays, the first-day of school, vacations, etc.