The sewing fairy has been busy at my house making pillowcases to donate to a local children’s hospital where each child receives a special handmade pillowcase when they are admitted. I have been shopping online at Emerald City Fabrics (I love this site!) and at local fabric stores for the perfect, most wonderful fabric to make some very special pillowcases. They only use one yard of fabric, and sew up in under an hour. I have whipped up quite a few of them to get ready for a large donation drive the first week in March.
For the little girls I bought fabric in pinks and purples. My favorite is the flower fairy one on the left, but my granddaughter loves the Tinkerbell one. The pink one on the right is flannel and cuddly soft.
These three pillowcases turned out so sweet! I ordered the fabric online, it is from Riley Blake Designs and the title of this line is Who Is In the Forest? (You can find it for sale online here) Little woodland animals and tree’s made three special pillow cases for little girls. I found some cute wave train fabric for little boys there as well that matched up well with fabric from my local fabric store.
Finding a pattern for the pillowcases was not easy. I searched and searched and finally found one at this site here. I found a few adjustments necessary though. Their pattern calls for too much fabric, I used 3/4 of a yard for the body of the case, and 1/4 for the top. If you want a third contrasting trim, I cut 3 inches of fabric, and folded it in half. Since I don’t have a serger machine, I sewed all my seams enclosed with a french seam so they wouldn’t fray. If you don’t know how to do that, there is a tutorial at the pattern site as well. Since there are only two seams, enclosing the seams goes quick. The cuff at the top is a little tricky. When you go to the website where the pattern is, be sure and watch the video on how to enfold the cuff. Basically, you pin the cuff to the body, then fold the body up, and wrap the cuff around the body. After stitching it, you pull it out like you would a sleeve.
I am hoping the fairies sprinkle a little bit of happiness all over the hospital with these pillowcases. As I sew them, I think of the children who will receive them and sew in prayers of healing and comfort.
We can’t change that there are children who are sick and hospitalized, but we can bring a little bit of happiness with a special new pillowcase.
Linking this post with Inspiration Friday and Feathered Nest Friday and Pink Saturday!
