Mighty Distractible: Now I lay me down to sleep...

Hello everyone!

Today I'm happy to share another Sesame Street room project with you. Meet our new embroidered pillowcases!

When you can't find what you want at the store, you make it yourself!

Making custom pillowcases is soooo easy, and soooo worth it. In this particular project the embroidery was 90% of the work. If you choose not to use embroidery, this is a 1 cup of tea and an hour of sewing project, seriously. I made some other pillowcases recently for my bedroom and was able to get 2 done in an evening after the kids went to bed.

There are lots and lots of methods for constructing a pillowcase. The differences lie in how the band at the opening is attached to the big part of the pillowcase. I never seem to use the same method twice. There are a lot of really great tutorial blogs out there if you do a search, but the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge site has some of the best (easiest) directions. Plus, options for being charitable, if you're so inclined.

And this book is awesome for all things bedding:

French General: Home Sewn: 30 Projects for Every Room in the House

What I can add to the already good tutorials is how to figure out where the embroidery should be placed to look just right. What I did first was to cut the band fabric to the correct size. Then, I folded it in half longways, measured 3/8 inches from the cut edge (that will be sewn to the main pillow section) and marked it with disappearing ink. I then folded that in half again as it would appear when finished. Mark the 3/8 inch seam allowance on the cut edge on the side. Now you can mark the fabric on the folded edge on the side and bottom with the disappearing ink pen. Using a straight-edge, draw out the square that is your "live area". Embroider anything your heart desires! I chose to use scanned-in and sized images from Sesame Street coloring books again for my templates along with the boys names that I printed off the computer.