A Little Sewing: Burrito Pillow Cases

BURRITO PILLOW CASES

I've not been finding a lot of time to knit lately but I've gotten some sewing projects done.  I've heard about Burrito Pillow Cases for years; my mom has made them in the past. I finally got around to trying out this super ingenious project and I love it.





The photo above shows how the fabrics are rolled together while sewing.  See the tutorial links below for more information.

If you've never heard of Burrito Pillow Cases before, let me explain. These are pillow cases you can sew for bed pillows.  You use three fabrics; one fabric is the main or primary fabric of the pillow case, the second fabric is for a little bit of accent, and the third fabric is for the cuff portion of the pillow case where you insert a bed pillow.  What is so great about the project is that you roll the fabrics in special way (before stitching) so that all of the fabric raw edges are enclosed and will not unravel.  Here is a great video to watch that explains the project from start to finish.  This is the pattern and instructions I followed for my first pillow case.


Link for video tutorial #1:

https://youtu.be/TAomYjHzUQk

There are gobs of other videos and written tutorials on the Internet for how to make pillow cases using this same process. The tutorial above will work for many fabrics you might want to use; however, some fabrics are "one way" or "directional" and this tutorial might not work.  For example, if you have a fabric with words or images that read best from one selvage edge to the other selvage edge, then the words or images might be sideways when you place your pillow on your bed. That was the case with my second pillow case. This fabric contains images and words from the "Marauder's Map" from Harry Potter.  This second link will give you some ideas for how to make a Burrito Pillow Case if you are using a directional fabric. Frankly, I just sort of winged it on my pillow case #2 since I understood the process and how things were supposed to go together.  But I wanted to include the second link in case some might find it useful.

Link for video tutorial #2 (for one way or directional fabrics):

https://www.theclothparcel.com/make-this-burrito-pillowcase-with-one-way-fabric-tutorial/

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Sylvia's pillow cases using Harry Potter "Marauder's Map" fabric is shown above.  It was fun letting this Harry Potter fan select fabrics for her pillow case!  She selected the paw print fabric since the colors looked so good with the Marauder's Map fabric.  The accent fabric is kind of subtle but it's super pretty in person.  It is solid black fabric with a metallic copper squiggle design.  I am currently re-reading all of the Harry Potter books. It occurred to me that the paw prints in the fabric Sylvia selected are cat paw prints.  The Harry Potter books feature a character named Argus Filch. He is a caretaker at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Argus Filch has a cat named Mrs. Norris who is always alerting Argus Filch when students at Hogwarts are misbehaving at school.  I told Sylvia that the paw print was not only a good choice because it looks so nice, but it was also a good choice because we can call the paw prints Mrs. Norris' paw prints.