Friday, September 23, 2011

Polka dot pillow covers, and sewing disasters

Remember how I said I would complete those pillows by the end of the week? Well I didn't hold into account that I have taken such a sewing break that I am now a novice. Nor did I consider how long it would take me to REALLY set up my machine. Let's just say I was one frustrated girl yesterday; broken machine plus teething baby= one grumpy momma! At least dinner turned out REALLY good! I made a ham and cheese quiche with leftover ham from the previous night's dinner and swiss cheese. MMMMM... is was delish! Another positive is that I now know my machine a lot better since I spent plenty of one on one time with the owners manual (and on the phone with my grandmother, the original owner). As for Zadie, she doesn't seem as weepy today... Hallelujah!
I did, in the chaos of yesterday, get two pillow shams done. If you remember in my previous post pillows galore I posted a link for a tutorial I was going to follow for the pillow covers. For some reason that tutorial was really intimidating to me because she did not give exact measurements throughout, and, I am embarrassed to admit this, I just could not understand how it could work! It was one of those times that I looked at her finished product and thought that there is something I am obviously missing so I am just going to go for it and hope I catch on. So on top of everything yesterday, I was working on a project that I assumed would probably not work.
Boy was I wrong! It hit me about 3/4 of the way through the project that I am a complete idiot (duh!) and I was making things WAY harder than they were. So here it goes.

I started by measuring out my fabric like she said in the directions, one 18x18 piece and one 18x26 piece.

I cut out two pillows at the same time.
Note to self: Learn how to cut straight...

Here is the fabric I worked with first.

I folder the longer fabric into 3rds and cut off 1/3. If you are annul like me and are making the same size pillow then your measurements should be: the 2/3 piece is 17 1/2 x 18 and the 1/3 piece is 8 1/2 x 18.
I folded the sides of the material, where I just cut them apart, 1/4 an inch and then ironed it down. I just eyeballed it.

Then I foled it again up to 1 1/2 inches. I only took a picture of the smaller piece for some reason, but I did this to both pieces.

I sewed down the ironed edges far enough down to make sure I got the 1/4 inch fold.
Finally I pinned it all together. This is the step that had me SO confused. For some reason I had it stuck in my mind that the two larger pieces would make up the front and the back and the smaller piece would just flap over. I know, I know... It is called a POCKET pillow. I can just be really slow. But for you other confused people out there what you do is lay the 18 x 18 piece down with the right side up. Lay the shortest piece down, right sides together, at the top of the 18 x18 piece. The hemmed side should be aimed towards the middle. Now lay the last piece down, right sides together, at the bottom of the 18x18 piece with the hemmed side going towards the middle. The 2/3s piece should overlap over the 1/3rd piece. You should now have made two 18x18 pieces. Pin them together.
Sew up all the sides reinforcing the overlapped pieces. Cut your corners and then flip it right side out!

Wa- la! You have a pocketed pillow sham! Again, I know I am showing my stupidity in this post, but I wanted to help any other poor frustrated soul who's brain just wasn't quite working. Pretty much I wanted to help all the new moms out there :)
So, two down and a gazillion to go :) I am thinking about trying one of those cutie patootie flowers I linked on the pillows galore post out today. Wish me luck... and full brain function :)
~ have a lovely, brain functioning day!

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