Since my last project was making pillow cases for a friend of mine, I decided to make a tutorial on how to make decorative pillow cases with piping. Piping looks really neat and professional but at the same time it's not too difficult to make it!
Please note: this tutorial is free but if you would rather prefer to download this complete tutorial as a pdf file you may purchase it here for only $2.

You need:
- 2 pieces of fabric for your pillow case
- fabric for the piping
- cord for the piping (I used Wrights cotton filler
  cord)
- 1 zipper
- 2 pieces of fabric, 9 x 4 cm (3.5 x 1.5") each,
  for the zipper tabs

The size of the 2 fabric pieces for the pillow case depends on the size of your pillow:
- Measure length and width of your pillow. Add two slots of seam allowance of 1,5 cm (5/8") to either side. E. g. if your pillow is 40 x 40 cm (15.75 x 15.75"), your 2 fabric pieces for the pillow case would have to be 43 x 43 cm (17 x 17"). Now cut 2 pieces of fabric according to your own measurements.
- Size of the piping fabric: Make it 4 cm (1.5") wide.
For the right length of the piping fabric use this formula: count 1x width of pillow case fabric + 2 x length of pillow case fabric; in my case, the fabric would be 3 x 43 cm (3 x 17") = 129 cm (51"). I like to add about another 5 cm (2") just to be one the safe side, so the piping won't end up being too short!
Cut the piping cord to the same length, so in this case at least 129 cm (51").

If the fabric piece you counted with this formula is too long to be cut out of your fabric you might just divide it by 2 and sew two pieces of fabric together. Put them right sides together in a 90° angle like shown in the picture below. Stitch across the fabric from corner to corner like illustrated with the red line. Trim the seam allowance:

1. Prepare the zipper:
For the right length of your zipper subtract approx. 8 cm (3") from the width of your fabric. Take one of the small zipper tab fabric pieces and bend one of the short edges down by 1 cm (3/8") towards the wrong side and put this edge onto the right side of one end of the zipper. Topstitch the fabric tab onto the zipper. Take the other small fabric piece and repeat and topstitch it onto the other end of the zipper. 

2. Prepare the piping:
Take your cord and place it centered onto the wrong side of your piping fabric piece. Close the fabric, so that the cord is hidden in between:

Now replace your regular sewing foot with your piping foot and place the fabric underneath the sewing foot, so that the cord is "covered" by the groove of the piping foot. Now it will be easy to stitch exactly along the edge of the piping and sew it up.

3. Make the zipper closure:
Take the zipper with the tabs at the end and place it right side up. Take one of the pillow case fabric pieces and bend the upper edge down towards the wrong side by 1 cm (3/8"). Now place the fabric with this edge onto one the zipper tape. The clean edge of the fabric should be placed as close to the zipper teeth as possible. Pin in place and (while using the zipper foot of your sewing machine) topstitch all along the edge, approx. 0,3 cm (1.8") down from the zipper teeth.
Take the other pillow case fabric piece and repeat with the other side. Your result should look like the bottom picture of the next picture:

4. Attach the piping:
Take the prepared piping piece and put it as follows onto the right side of one of the pillow case fabric pieces: Place the raw edge of the piping approx. 0,5 cm (0.25") down from the raw edge of the pillow case fabric. The piping cord will face towards the inside of the pillow case fabric. Start at one of the top edges and pin the piping in place, all around the three edges of the pillow case fabric.

At the corners it is helpful to cut v-shapes into the seam allowance of the piping, which makes it easier to bend it smoothly around the corner. Make sure you don't cut into the stitching of the piping though. At the top corners try to bend the piping slightly towards the outside.

Take your piping foot again and stitch all around the piping as before. I usually only baste at this step, since you only want to make sure that your piping stays in place for the next step to follow:

5. Assemble the pillow case:
Open the zipper. Put the two pillow case fabric pieces on top of each other, right sides together. The piping is now hidden in between the two fabric pieces. At the top corners, the piping should still be bent towards the outside. Pin in place and again, using the piping foot, stitch all along the three sides of the pillow case. Start at one top edge and sew straight down at first, going right over the end of the piping (careful, this can be little bumpy) and then smoothly let your piping foot find and cover the piping and keep on sewing as in the two previous steps. 

Helpful hint: I like to stitch from the side of the fabric with the piping attached. This way you can use the seam of the attached piping as orientation and sew right ontop of it.
Be careful at the corners, so that the piping comes out neatly at the end. Reaching the other upper corner, again sew straight up, at the same time going over the piping cord. Turn your pillow case right side out and poke out the corners with something pointy.

Your pillow case is now complete. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this tutorial I would be happy about a comment below :)


And if you would rather prefer to download this complete tutorial as a pdf file you may purchase it here for only $2.

Only a few more days until St. Patty's Day, the second one I'm going to be celebrating here in the US. We got invited to a party and of course my first thought was: "OMG, what am I gonna wear??" followed by "I don't have anything". (These are probably the two most common thoughts of women after they got invited to... well, pretty much anything) Since I haven't made any clothing in months this turned out to be a really good opportunity for me to finally sew something that is not a bag or a wallet.

I found a really nice green and black striped jersey fabric, a rayon/polyester mix, at a local fabric store. The idea for my outfit was to make a simple short sleeved shirt with the jersey fabric, wear some of my short pants with it as well as some green leggings. That should be enough green to not get pinched ;)

I looked through my sewing magazine collection for a nice pattern and found one in Burda Style 3/2010 which didn't look to complicated. Well turns out I had not quite enough fabric (I bought like 6 inches too little…urgh!) but so the shirt would have to be a bit shorter.

The first step was to make the very decorative pleats at the front part. Therefore I had to baste along the marked lines first, to be able to gather the fabric. After gathering I folded and stitched the darts.
Then the instructions tell you to stitch both the shoulder and the side seams. The front piece looked really wide from the beginning and after stitching it together with the back part, I tried it on and didn't like it at all. Yes, this shirt is supposed to be loose-fit but this way it just looked weird on me. I decided to make it a bit tighter by cutting off approximately 5 cm (2") from the front part. Since I used my serger machine I simply cut the seam open again. There is no use in trying to open a serger seam with a seam ripper. A lot of work with poor results ;-) After reducing the width and sewing both parts together again the shirt already fit much better!

The next step was stitching the sleeves. Those had to be gathered as well and then trimmed with a cuff. This part was a little annoying because jersey fabric is not the easiest one to make sleeve cuffs with. The fabric has to be folded in half with the wrong sides together and ironed, so that you have a crease at the middle. This has never happened to me before but I seriously managed to iron a hole into my cuff fabric!! Unbelievable.. I quickly decided that ironing is for losers and I would manage to get the cuff straight onto the sleeve without all that, which luckily worked out pretty well.

Next I folded down the seam allowance around the neck area and stitched it with a twin needle. I did the same with the hem and now my shirt was actually done.. at least according to my Burda pattern, but… the neckline was just way too wide for me ;-) I had to change that as well and used a piece of elastic ribbon which I slid into the seam allowance of the front part. This way the fabric gathers and the neckline gets a little tighter which is totally the better way to go! I finally folded another pleat at the right side and handstitched a leaf button onto it.
Yesterday I finally managed to drag myself to the mall and buy some green tights. Since their only purpose is to be worn on St. Patty's day I couldn't care less about the rather bad quality :) The shirt however is really comfortable and I'm sure I'm going to wear it a lot during the summer!

I've been using the above mentioned product for quite a while now but since it's still hard to get in the US and I've stumbled upon far too many entries and questions about it in online forums I decided to blog about it, to introduce it to the American sewing community and to shed some light on all the mysteries ;-)
Decovil is a special kind of non-woven interfacing with a leatherlike handle and perfect when you make bags and wallets but also hats or decorative items. This stuff is really awesome which is why I can't stop mentioning it again and again (see also my older blogpost about Decovil).
I buy it in Germany during my trips home but I hope there will be more vendors that sell it in the US in the future. Because I'm addicted!!
At first there was only "Decovil I" but a few months later I found a second version called "Decovil I light" as you can also see above on the picture. You can already tell by the name that the second one is a little bit thinner, softer and more flexible than the first one.
For most of the handbags I make and basically for all my wallets I use the first version, Decovil I. That's the thicker one, it's a little sturdier and feels a bit like leather. Both types of Decovil have one fusible side, so you can iron it onto the wrong side of your fabric.

Decovil is really flexible and bendable compared to "regular" interfacing or especially heavy stabilizer you would use for bags, that should be less slouchy and have a nice "body". It doesn't deform, it stays flat no matter how much you bend it, and your items will end up having a really smooth surface and a great shape.

Heavy stabilizer gives me a hard time because it tends to create wrinkles when you bend it which will show through your fabric later, especially if you don't use thicker fabric like home dec fabric but for instance a lightweight quiliting fabric. And that's what I love about Decovil: it gives your items a real professional look AND touch, just like you would find it with storebought bags or wallets.

You can see on the first wallet that there are some pleats on the fabric, and no, these are not due to laziness of ironing my finished items, it's the heavy stabilizer that shows through and the wallet has this kind of crinkly look.. not ideal! Now, I admit that it's not totally unacceptable, and using heavy stabilizer will still help you give your bags or wallets the strength they need, but: once you've tried Decovil, you don't want to go back using anything but Decovil! The surface feels smooth and flat and you can even bend it and there still won't be any pleats showing on the fabric!
To sum it up: Decovil can help you draw the tiny but important line between your items looking handcrafted instead of "homemade".

One helpful hint if you decide to give it a try: always make sure you don't stitch directly on Decovil, since you will find it hard to turn your finished item right side out in the end and still have a neat and clean edge. What I recommend is to cut the Decovil piece without the seam allowance, then put it centered onto the wrong side of your fabric piece, making sure that there is no Decovil on the seam allowance of your fabric. When sewing, make sure to let the needle run exactly along the edge of the Decovil part (I always put the pieces underneath my sewing foot with the Decovil side up, so that I can acutally see where I have to sew).
(What I even do sometimes is NOT sew the Decovil onto my fabric at the beginning. Usually you will have to turn your bag or wallet right side out as one of the last steps and due to Decovil's sturdiness this can be a little tricky. Instead what I do is I turn the item right side out, then slip the Decovil inside before closing it up. I make sure it is all flat and sits perfectly in the item and then I close the seam and iron it.)

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into Decovil. Finally, here's my list of online stores that sell it to the US. Note that not all vendors sell both types though, some only carry Decovil I and not the light version.

If you want to try it out these are some of the places you can order from:
u-handbag: $11.90 per 1/2 yard plus shipping (from GB)
creative-sewing-shop.com: $ 15.00 per meter (39") + shipping (from France)
TOKO Kurzwaren via amazon.com (see link below): $14.10 per meter (39") + shipping (from Germany)
All prices are subject to change!