Fussy cut pillow cover

According to The Nerdy Sewist, fussy cutting is described as cutting a detail or particular piece of a pattern from the fabric, as opposed to just cutting a strip from the fold to the selvedge. I kind of  love fussy cutting, and am happy to share my latest fussy cut project with you: A pillow cover (another of my favorite type of project). 

Supplies you’ll need:

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Set Sail Anchor & Vintage Linen Wheat, approximately 1/4 to 1/3 yd each, depending on your desired size. I made a 14″ pillow cover.

First, you’ll fussy cut your main panel- mine turned out to be 9 inches wide and 13 inches tall, so I then cut my ‘frame’ fabric as follows: (2) 1.25″ x 15″ and (2) 3″ x 13″.

 

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I began by matching the 3″ x 13″ rectangles on the sides of the panel, pinned them right sides together, then sewed them together. Then I pressed the seams open & top stitched about .25″ from the edge of the seam, on top of the linen, to reinforce the seam & flatten it.

I repeated these steps with the 1.25″ x 15″ rectangles, only on the top & bottom.

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To finish the back of the pillow, I thought I’d do an envelope closure. I cut 2 pieces that measured 12″ x 15″, then pressed 1/2″, folded it down another 1/2″ & pressed again, then sewed a hem across one of the 15″ edges of each piece, so they measured 11″ x 15″.

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To assemble all three pieces to complete the cover, I set the front panel down, right side up, then one of the back panels on top, wrong side up. Set the other back panel over the remaining part of the front panel, wrong side up, so that the back panels  are overlapping in the middle.

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Pin around all edges, then sew around all edges. I like to add a zig zag stitch on the outside of my regular stitch, especially on fabrics like this that have a bit of a looser weave. If I had a serger, I’d use that, but a zig zag stitch works just fine.

Next, you’ll turn the pillow cover inside out so the right side is, and voila! It’s ready to be put on an insert!!

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