Chalkboard Blue: Ruffled Pillow in an Envelope Casing

This is such a fun accent pillow. I think it would also look so cute in a little girl's room too!

Here is a shot of how the back of the pillow looks:

The opening or envelope portion where the pillow insert goes...

The Sides:

This is how I made this ruffled pillow case in an Envelope-Style Casing.

Materials:
16x16 pillow insert
3/4 yard of Muslin or fabric of your choosing
4 - Strips of Fabric of your choosing (Each of my strips are cut
2 1/2 in wide by 21 1/2 inches long.)
1- Strip of Fabric that coordinates with your top ruffle. I cut mine
at 1 1/4 in wide by 21 1/2 inches long.
Thread
Buttons to accent
Sewing Machine
Scissors and or cutting mat

Formula to cut for Fabric for the pillow:

For the Front Cover:

Take the measurement of the pillow and add 1 inch to the length and the width.

My Cut measurement for the front cover was:
Since my pillow is a 16x16, I added the inch and cut it 17 inches by 17 inches.

For the Back of the pillow:
Take the measurement of the pillow and add 1 inch to the width AND add 5 inches to the extra one inch of the width for the length. (So you technically add 6 inches to the length because you figure in the extra inch.)

Since my pillow is a 16x16, I added the one inch to make it 17 inches wide and I added the 5 inches plus 1 more inch to make it 22 inches long.

My cut measurement for the back piece was:
17 inches wide x 22 inches long.

Cut your front piece of fabric 17 in. by 17 in. and set aside:

Next: Cut your Back Piece. Cut it 17 inches wide by 22 inches long

Next for the back cover: Take your piece you just cut and Cut the LENGTH exactly in half so you will have two pieces 11 inches long and still 17 inches wide.

Next you are going to make a double roll hem for each of the long pieces across the width of the fabric in the middle section only.

It will become this part of the back of the pillow where the insert goes when you are finished with the pillow. Here is a finished shot of the back to give you an idea of what you are making the hems for...

**Note:
Do not hem the sides or the top edge or bottom edge of the outside of the pillow. Only the edges that meet where you just cut them in half will have the double roll hem. I did each hem at 1/4 inch each for at total of 1/2 inch once the hem is rolled twice.

Once you make these two hems this portion of your back of the pillow is almost complete. You can set these two aside while you work on the front.

Next you need to make all of your ruffles!

Take each of your strips of fabric you cut 2 1/2 in wide by 21 1/2 inches long.
1. You will need to press with your iron a top hem that is only 1/4 in. Do not stitch it yet.

2. You will need to press a double roll hem for the bottom of the fabric.

Stitch your Bottom roll first. This is the hem that you pressed a double roll hem for.

Next:
Take your top hem of the fabric strip and do a gather stitch. (To make a gather stitch set your machine at the farthest setting apart for a single stitch. Pull out a good amount of string before your stitch. Next stitch all along the hem all the way through to the end. Leave a good amount of string at the end of the fabric.)

**Note. You do not need to stitch a hem at the ends of your fabric strips. They are going to be stitched into the hem of the actual pillow and do not need to be hemmed. As you can see in the photo below, they are stitched into the side seam of the pillow...

Carefully pull the top strings through to start making your gathers, adjust the fabric along your hem. You don't really need to make the gathers too tight, because they will need to stretch across the front of the pillow.

Once all 4 strips of fabric are made into gathers, you need to add a little roll strip to the top of the fabric strip that you want to be the top ruffle on your pillow. This is the fabric I chose for my top ruffle. I'll next show you how I made this little roll...

I took a strip of fabric that is 1 1/4 in wide by 21 1/2 in long.

I rolled it up tight

I took the part of the roll that the seam is showing, as in the photo above and I pinned the roll with the seam face down to the top of the ruffle so the seam is hidden and I stitched right through the middle of the roll of fabric attaching it to the ruffle so the ruffle has a finished edge.

So now you should have your top ruffle all finished off and your other 3 strips of fabric made into ruffles.

Once you have done this for all 4 strips of fabric you can lay them out across your Material that you cut for the front piece of the pillow. It is up to you how you want to adjust your fabric ruffles

Once you have your ruffles placed and pinned where you want them to be, its time to sew the ruffles to the front cover.

I started at the bottom and sewed the bottom ruffle first. I flipped the other pinned ruffles out of the way and stitched the ruffle on by running along the top of the ruffle attaching it to the front cover.

I did the same thing for the next ruffles until I was finished with all four ruffles. At this point you have all of your ruffles attached to the front cover. Now it is time to attach your back pieces to your front cover and sew all the way around your edge.

Take the front cover and lay it facing you. Take one of the Back pieces that you hemmed across the middle and lay it right sides of fabric touching and lay it on top of the ruffles. Line up your edges. Make certain your hem you stitched on the back piece is laying right across the middle of the ruffles.

Take your other Back Piece and do the same, overlay it, covering the ruffles and laying it over the other Back Piece and lining up your edges. Make certain again that your hemmed part of the Back piece is running across the middle of the pillow. You want your hemmed pieces to look like this when the pillow is finished.

It is okay that the Back pieces over lay on top of each other. They need to do that. This creates the opening for the pillow insert to go into.

so now you have your back pieces with edges lined up and square. Now all you have to do is sew around the outside edge of the pillow with about a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Once you have that stitched around, turn your pillow case right side out and Hand stitch your buttons where you would like them to go. Be careful to not stitch them to the back cover. You could sew your buttons on before you stitch your pillow together, but I waited until I had the case finished so I could see where the buttons would end up. I just stitched by hand the buttons using the opening through the back of the pillow case and the front cover to attach them.

Now just place the pillow insert into the case and your pillow is finished!

If you would like to see another tutorial on an Envelope pillow case, you can see that here, or by clicking on the photo below:

If you like ruffles and would like to see another fun project I did for my girls with some ruffle accents, you can see that here with these fun ruffle tote bags I made for them. Or you can click on the photo below: (We love, love these and they work so well!)