Pillowcase Pattern

At the guild meeting this week I did a short demo on making pillowcases for quick and easy gifts. Here is a photo of me in the year 2000 when I made these pillowcases for all my nieces and nephews, and my children. I selected fabrics according to their ages and interests (soccer for the older boys, trains for the younger boys, little animals for the toddler boys, etc). They were well used and appreciated gifts, although the Christmas ones that I made for my children are getting a little worn out!
I used a basic pattern that was posted on the Hoffman Fabrics website at that time (it's long gone now). Here are the pieces to cut if you want to sew up a pillowcase for a standard size pillow:
1) CUT 1 pillowcase fabric - 28” x 44”
Fold in half right sides together and sew two sides (1/4” seam).
2) CUT 1 accent fabric - 2 1/2" x 44”
Press in half lengthways with wrong sides together.
3) CUT 1 border fabric - 9 1/2” x 44”
Press in half lengthways with wrong sides together.
4) Sew the accent and border strips together, lining up the raw edges.
5) Sew the accent and border strips to the pillowcase fabric, lining up the raw edges.
6) Turn inside out and press.
If you have a serger, it is best to serge all edges, however I don't have one, so I just sewed the regular 1/4" seam and these pillowcases are still holding together!
Also, if you have a fancy embroidery machine, you can personalize the borders with the name of the child/person for whom you are making the pillowcase.