Tea towel pillow case

It's starting to look as though I've developed an obsession with tea towels, doesn't it? Well, I can't help it! They come in such fun colours and motifs, they're sturdy and their edges are all neatly hemmed. And when they go on clearance at Ikea, tea towels are impossible to resist! They also beat buying yards of fabric only to end up with bits and pieces that I can't really use for anything.

I've been wanting to give my throw pillow a makeover, so when I got these tea towels, I just played around and wrapped one around my pillow. Et voila! I discovered that I can make a pillow case out of this tea towel with just three lines of stitches and a button. It took me less than 30 minutes to make this pillow case. How easy is that?

This project is perfect for beginners since you only have to sew a few lines of straight stitches and you don't have to worry about measuring, cutting patterns, serging frayed edges or attaching zippers. It's also completely doable without a sewing machine. Do note, though, that this project requires a tea towel with a built-in loop and it makes a 12"x18" pillow case for a standard throw pillow.

Read on after the jump for the full picture tutorial.

Tea towel pillow case

What you need:
Tea towel with an attached loop (20"x28")
Straigh pins
Large button
Sewing machine OR needle and thread
Scissors

Instructions:
1. Pin the loop upwards onto the hem of the tea towel. Sew a top stitch to keep the loop in place.

2. Place the tea towel right-side down on your work surface. The edge with the loop should be at the  end farthest from you and the edge without the loop should be closest to you. Place your pillow sham near the center of the tea towel. Fold the edge of the tea towel with the loop down to about 1/3 of the pillow. You may have to adjust the placement of the pillow slightly to get this right. Fold the bottom edge of the towel up and completely wrap the pillow.

3. Pin the tea towel to mark where the edges of the tea towel overlap. Remove the pillow and pin the other edge of the tea towel in place. IMPORTANT: Make sure the edge with the loop is the lower layer.

4. Sew a straight stitch down both edges of the towel. I used a 1" seam allowance but you can adjust your seam allowance accordingly to fit snugly around your pillow.

  

5. Turn the pillow case inside out and be sure to push the corners out. Choose a button that fits through the loop. Mark where the button should go on the fabric underneath the loop. Sew the button in place.

6. You're done!