By Janome Maker: Duy Truong
(Project Level: Beginner and for everyone!)
Hi everyone, Duy here, aka CafeDeDuy!
Today we’ll be focusing on upcycling old curtains/tablecloths and transforming them into pillow cases, especially for pillows that don’t match your other ones.
I have a pillow with a painting of Marie Antoinette on it that doesn’t match the rest of my pillows, especially this old yellow one. I was thinking of making a cute frilly coquette pillowcase, and want to take it farther and have the pleats be inspired by the pleats on the 18th century robe a la francaise dress. This pleat is also very easy and not as tight as the typical frills we are used to.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Janome Heavy Duty Machine (highly recommend as you will be sewing through thick materials)
A pillow
Old curtains/tablecloths
PART ONE:
Gather your materials and design in your head. For me, I want to keep this an easy project, especially one I can wing with my eyes without using too much math.
Cut out two giant squares for your pillow. You can wing one about the size of your pillow, and one that is significantly bigger for the lining. Cut out multiple yards of your trimming fabric, consider that you need to make pleats, so the length has to be longer than the perimeter of your pillow.
PART TWO:
With your Janome Heavy Duty machine, hem one edge of your trim as well as your main pillowcase body. No need to make your pleats now as you can do it in the moment later, unless you’d feel more comfortable to do it now.
With the square that is about the size of your pillow, sew on your trim on the right side. For me, I’m able to make my pleats as I sew directly onto the fabric. This is a fun home project, so there’s no need to be accurate with every pleat. If the pleats feels “boxy,” that’s completely okay because we want to look like the pleats on the 18th century dresses.
PART THREE:
TIme to add the lining (aka just the other side of the pillow). Face the correct sides of the fabric together. It would be very useful to pin down all the edges of the pillowcase as the trimming might be very thick as it was for me. This is also where the bigger square is useful so you don’t have to worry about the edges perfectly lining up. Sew only three sides, and not the side with the hemmed edge.
PART FOUR:
Cut off the excess fabric, and flip it inside out! (It would help if you flip it inside out with the pillow at the same time.
And Voila! You have a pillow that matches your coquette dreams!
While this pillow isn’t the most extreme and finest product of craftsmanship, it’s about making something for fun while putting old materials to use rather than throwing them out. Hopefully this will give you ideas on how to use your Janome Heavy Duty! This machine is really reliable when it comes to thick materials.
