Quick & Easy ~pillowcase make-over~ Tutorial

I had a couple of vintage pillowcases which I just love as they are so nice and thick but were pretty plain and boring. I wanted to use these in Lisa's bedroom but wanted to jazz them up a bit.  What to do?  I then remembered I had a couple of pieces of vintage lace  (different to each other, but that's ok) just long enough to fit from top to bottom.

My aim was to make them  romantic and pretty by adding some lace to the edge of each one. I first placed the lace onto the p'case where I wanted it to sit when it was finished. As you can see I wanted the lace to overhang the edge of the p'case by about 1". I only had enough lace to do the front of each pillowcase. If I had more I would have gone round front and back but this would still achieve the look I was after. I placed a pin top and bottom of the p'case where I need to sew the lace to. Make sure you cut the lace 1/2" longer top and bottom for seams.

Now remove the lace and make a hem top and bottom by folding in lace by 1/4" and then again by1/4" /This will finish the edge to prevent it from fraying.

Now pin your lace right side facing right side of your p'case and line top and bottom of where your seam is going with the pins we placed earlier on your p'case.

Now sew along your pin line. If you are new at this I recommend you baste it first.  Make sure you don't catch the back of your p'case!

Fold out your lace so it is now right side facing up and pin along the edge you have just sewn so you can go over and top stitch along the edge.

Now you need to topstitch the top and bottom section of your lace to your p'case so they stay in place and won't flap around.

Here they are finished. A very quick and easy way to jazz up a plain pillowcase! If you wanted to take it a step further you can add layers of lace of different widths. Simply place the narrowest lace face down first followed by the next and ending with the widest and sew them all at once. Then I would only sew the widest lace to the top and bottom of the p'case and let the other layers flounce around. (now why didn't I think of this.... BEFORE....!)

Hope this wasn't too boring but I thought a beginner might like to have a go! take care, Maryann