Pillowcase with Ric Rac Trim

This pillow case was a simple little project I made for my little boy using one yard of cotton quilting-weight fabric and about a yard of contrasting ric rac.

I had this cute fabric in my stash. I've been trying to use up what I have instead of buying new fabric and materials. The ric rack is from Beautiful Additions.

Does anyone else call a pillow case a “pillow slip”? My grandmother always called them that. When I referred to a 'pillow slip' in college, a few friends laughed at me. Just wondering if anyone else has to remind themselves to say pillow "case"!!!

Anyway, my finished pillow case measures 19” in width and 33” in length.

Before starting, make sure to pre-wash and dry your fabric.

To make the opening, I measured down 6” from the top of the fabric. I pressed the fabric at this point, wrong sides together, to make a nice crease.

Then, I opened the fold back up and folded the fabric back down to the crease.

This is 3” from the top.

I pressed it into place. Then I folded it again along the 6” crease. This hides the raw edge.

Next, I pinned it into place. I didn’t sew yet.

I then pinned on the ric rac.

I hid half of it behind the fabric so that just the points are showing. Then I sewed it in place.

(Note: I’ve never used ric rac as a trim on a sewing project before, so this is just the way I did it. I don’t know if it is “technically” correct! This is just how I did it.)

Then I stitched 3" down from the ric rac to hold the rest of the flap in place.

Here is what the inside of the pillow case will look like:

I folded the pillow case in half and measured out the width I would need. 19” wide, plus 1/2” for seam allowance (x2, since the fabric is doubled over at this point).

I cut the excess fabric off of the pillow case.

Then I zig-zagged all the raw edges, matched up the edges and pinned it into place for the final seam to be sewn.

After sewing around the bottom and one open edge, on the wrong side of the pillow case, I pressed the seams open. Then I turned it right side out and pressed the seams flat.

My son is excited to have a Clifford pillow case!

It is fun to make things you know your child will love to use.