As they used to say on The A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!” This was very much the case with my latest sewing project. A small cylindrical pillow that I use for my back had a pillowcase but the zipper broke. So I decided to sew a new one (sans zipper, since they scare me—to sew anyway).

For projects like this, I tend to do a lot of thinking. Not necessarily a lot of sketching or creating of patterns. Just thinking. For this project, I thought about how I was going to make the ends round; about how I wanted to close the case; about how much bulkiness I’d be able to live with.

This past weekend, I put all my thoughts in motion. I used a tape measure to measure the pillow’s length (and added about 1 inch) and circumference (and added about 7 inches). Then I went to my stash of circle templates and found one about 1 inch bigger than the ends of the pillow.

I double hemmed the long ends of the case, then pinned one short end around one of the circle ends. Since the case was longer than the circumference of the circle (even after I hemmed the ends), I simply overlapped the fabric, which resulted in the envelope flaps show above. Sewing the end was easier than I thought (I tend to think of myself as a straight stitch kind of person); a ton of pins seemed to be the way to handle it. I even went around twice to make sure the seam was secure. I repeated the process on the other end.

The envelope closure was so long that I felt it needed some extra security, so I sewed three pieces of Velcro to the flap to keep it closed. Ta da!

The whole thing turned out better than I had expected, and my very sweet boyfriend said it was even better than the case the pillow came with. Have you ever had a project come together better than you thought possible? Share your story in the comments below!

Until next time,

Christine