Learn how to make a pillowcase the easy way. That’s like 15 minutes of a sewing beginner’s time, one single piece of fabric, no zipper, no buttons, nothing except 4 straight seams. Change up your pillows and you’ve got an easy living room makeover. Maybe toss in a few of my round storage bins in matching colors (more here), and your home is perfect. Check out how to sew the easiest diy pillowcase ever!
This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support. First off, you might not know it, but I’ve got tons of FREE PATTERNS on this site, including these you will really want to check out:
- How To Make A Hanging Storage Basket
- FREE Sleep Mask Pattern NEW
- Mini Pouch Free Pattern
- FREE Pattern – Pencil Holder and Trinket Tray in 3 Sizes
How to Make a Pillowcase
Back to the pillowcases – these just might be the easiest thing I’ve sewn in years! It’s a super-easy sewing project that will probably not even require 15 minutes to complete. Now, let’s be clear what I mean by super-easy: it’s folding a single piece of fabric and sewing 4 straight lines. That’s it. Now, if you’ve never before sewn a thing, this is your chance to try out the simplest straight stitch. Really!
These pillowcases are super easy to use, and I always have a few spare ones at hand. At the time I had a preschooler and a crawling baby in the house, these pillow covers came incredibly handy.
Also called envelope pillowcases, they are changed in a whim. No buttons, no zippers. You just grab the pillow, pull the cover, toss it into the washer. Repeat a day or an hour later when there’s blueberries all over it because the baby somehow got hands on a snack bowl full of fruit and dragged it around. At least I know now why she’d been so quiet for those 5 minutes. 🙂
Bottom line: simple to sew, simple to use.
SUPPLIES:
- 1/2 yard of fabric in your favorite prints
- a pillow form (mine is 16″ by 16″)
- sewing machine or needle, pins or Wonder clips,
- iron, scissors, or rotary cutter plus cutting mat (I use this one by Olfa)
The cutting will go super quick if you use a rotary cutter. I used this Pink Splash Olfa (link) with my project.
Steps To Make A Pillowcase
Oh, one thing more before we start: the overlap will be approximately 5″. You can opt for a smaller overlap if you’re short on fabric, but I like 5″ because it will stabilize the pillow form so nicely. Now, let’s start:
Cutting Instructions
1) Measure and cut the fabric. First, just to be sure about the measurements, measure your pillow form. Mine was 16″ by 16″. But I’ve got you covered for other dimensions, too: scroll down for measurements if you have a different size of the pillow form.
For a 16″ by 16″ pillow, cut a piece 17″ by 39″.
- horizontal: 16″ x2 (front and back side of pillow) plus 2″ (hems) plus 5″ (overlap)
- vertical: 16″ plus 1″ (hem)
Hemming
4) Hem the two short edges. Turn under each of the two short edges of the fabric by the finished hem amount, that is 1″ (2.5cm) and press. Then open the pressed seam allowance and tuck the raw edge underneath into that fold. Like this:
5) Press and topstitch using a 3/8″ (1 cm) seam allowance to catch the fold underneath. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam to reinforce it.
Folding
6) Once hemmed, lay the piece right side up. Fold both edges towards the center, so the edges will overlap by 5″.
Please NOTE: for a pillow of 16″, I needed need to fold the edges back by 10 1/2″. For other pillow dimensions, the 10 1/2″ fold does not apply. If you have a rectangle of other dimensions than mine, simply fold the edges to achieve a 5″ overlap of the edges.
This means the total width of the folded piece now will equal the finished width of your pillowcase. Measure to doublecheck.
Sewing Step
4) Stitch along the top and along the bottom edges, using a 1/2″ seam allowance. I usually finish the raw edge using a zigzag or a serger hem for a nice finish, but nobody will notice if you don’t.
Standard pillowcase sizes:
- horizontal: PILLOW FORM DIMENSION x2 (front and back side of pillow) plus 2″ (double hem) plus 5″ (overlap)
- vertical: PILLOW FORM DIMENSION plus 1″ (hem)
This is the fabric required for different pillow sizes:
- for a standard 18″ by 18″ pillow, cut: 19″ x 43″
- for a standard 19″ by 19″ pillow, cut: 20″ x 45″
- for a standard 20″ by 20″ pillow, cut: 21″ x 47″ etc.
Easy and quick! While there are many ways to sew a pillowcase, this one I think is the fastest of all. I’m planning to show you another quick way to make them, especially the longer and larger ones, but this will just have to wait for some other time. Make sure to subscribe to the newsletter (here) so you don’t miss it.
Save this project for later when you have a few spare minutes for sewing:
Enjoy!
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| See Pattern HERE. |
Graciela65 says
¡¡¡¡¡ MIL GRACIAS DAMJANA !!!!! ME ENCANTO ESTE MODELO DE FUNDA DE ALMOHADA. TENGO 71 AÑOS, JUBILADA, Y CON MI ARTROSIS DE RODILLAS, NO PUEDO ESTAR MUCHO EN LA MAQUINA, PERO AMO COSER. Y JUSTO TENGO QUE HACER FUNDAS, PORQUE YA ESTAN VIEJAS, Y ME GUSTA ESTE MODELO, PUES NO SE VE LA ALMOHADA, QUEDA BIEN CUBIERTA. GRACIAS POR PUBLICAR LAS DIFERENTES MEDIDAS, NO ME LLEVO BIEN CON LAS MATEMATICAS. UNA PREGUNTA; ¿ QUE SIGNIFICAN LAS COMILLAS AL LADO DE LOS NUMEROS " ? GRACIELA, DESDE ARGENTINA.
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Graciela65,
gracias! Las comillas al lado de los numeros – those marks " are inches (1 inch = 2.5 cm)
Happy sewing,
valeriasynek@gmail.com says
apparantly I am not clicking at the corect place to receive the sleep maks template !
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Valeria hi,
the pattern is in my shop here: https://shop.applegreencottage.com/catalogue/sleep-mask-pattern_28/
Use your subscriber exclusive 100% off coupon code to get it for free – it's at the bottom of my today's newsletter. Happy sewing 🙂
Gwen says
Great and easy to follow instructions! I'm always sort of stumbling around, knowing what I want, but unsure how to achieve it.
I will add one kind of weird thing. I used to live at the beach which was connected to an estuary in a house that we later found out had every color mold under the sun. My allergies were such that I always had at least one tissue if not multiples and my significant other and I both got tired of waking up and playing search the sheets for the tissues. So I added a pocket of sorts to each side in the same fabric and got in the habit of stashing them there. Problem solved! I've moved and don't have the runny nose at all, but I still use the pockets for things like cell phones & gadgets or whatever I'd like handy before, during, and right after sleep. Can we say the Alexa Remote? (or whatever system you use.)
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Gwen,
what a creative way to use pockets!
Anonymous says
Great idea for teaching my grandchildren to sew! Fast and fun, thank you so much
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
So happy to hear that,
thanks. I'd love to see what you and your grandkids make!
cghundley says
How simple and
a great deco idea.
Carla from Utah
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Hi Carla,
thank you! xoxo to Utah,
Lesley Gilbert says
Nice easy project that could be made to any size 🙂
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Lesley hi,
absolutely agree! Thanks for dropping by,
Ana says
Wonderful, thank you for this wonderful instruction!
z0fLfGKfaVUocFGPHFlJIJQQwp6719 says
Ana,
thanks, that's so kind of you <3