Isn’t it a beauty?
Now available as a free video tutorial!
Honey Bee is participating in American Patchwork & Quilting’s 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. The first batch of gorgeous handmade pillowcases that Honey Bee has collected is going to the Texas Baptist Children’s Home, located in Round Rock, Texas.
I knew as soon as I heard about it that I wanted to participate.
Early on in the pillowcase drive, Honey Bee had a demo for the “Hot Dog” pillowcase method, which rumor has it is super-duper easy.
Only, I missed the demo. Oops. You see, it was on a Friday at lunch time. Every Friday, I have a date lunch with my awesome hubby, so obviously going to a free pillowcase how-to demo was not going to win out over date lunch!
Well, I’ve made pillowcases before, so I wasn’t too fussed about it. Then, a couple of weeks later, my sewing friends and I had a sewing day at our friend Linda’s house. Osie, who happens to be one of the Goddesses of Honey Bee, was working on pillowcases for the drive and took a few minutes to show us how the mystical “Hot Dog” works.
Hot dog! Seriously, hot dog! This is the easiest, fastest and cleanest-looking pillowcase method I’ve seen. Including the pillowcase used in this tutorial, I’ve now made 11 of these bad boys. So easy, so fun…and excellent for stash busting!
Pillowcase 1 – 10, on their way to Honey Bee, all made from fabrics I had in my stash.
This was not my invention and there are a couple of tutorials floating around out there, but this is too good not to post again. This is my take on the instructions. I hope you enjoy, make lots of pillowcases and donate them to charity! (Oh, okay, you can keep one or two for yourself!)
Pillowcases donated through Honey Bee! The last I heard there were over 200!
Read more on the Honey Bee Blog.
They’ve even made it easy by offering pre-cut kits with
free how-to sheets for the Hot Dog method!
You’ll need:
Three lengths of fabric in three coordinating colors. Makes one standard size pillowcase.
- BUN (cuff) – 12″ x WOF (width of fabric ~ 44″)
- MUSTARD (flange) – 2″ – 3″ x WOF (you can also use leftover quilt binding for this)
- HOT DOG (body) 24″ – 26″ x WOF
You can vary the bun/hot dog size up or down, just make sure that the total yardage between those two is 36″ – 38″. 9 – 12″ for the bun is ideal.
If you use two yards of coordinating fabric, plus 6″ of a third, you can make two coordinating pillowcases with opposite colors!
My colors for this tutorial – a pre-cut kit from Honey Bee. Isn’t the fabric just delicious?
Hot Dog, Bun & Mustard! Once your fabric is cut and pressed and you’re ready to go!
Roll out your BUN, right side up.
Press the MUSTARD in half
Place MUSTARD with raw edges matching along one side of the BUN.
Place HOT DOG on top of MUSTARD, face down. Align raw seams. Add a few pins to hold in place.
Roll the HOT DOG (hey, now it looks like a hot dog!) to within a few inches of the pinned edge.
Fold the BUN over the HOT DOG and pin along the raw edge, making sure to catch all layers of fabric.
Stitch along raw edge using a 3/8″ seam allowance.
Remove any pins and birth your HOT DOG! Roll BUN back, gently tugging the HOT DOG out of the center.
Continue tugging and rolling until the HOT DOG is all the way out.
Your pillowcase should now look something like this.
Smooth out the fabric, then press the BUN and MUSTARD, tugging gently so it’ll lie flat. I like to press on both sides.
Square up your pillowcase by removing the selvage.
With WRONG SIDES together (yes, I said wrong sides!), align the MUSTARD and corners of the pillowcase.
Pin in several places.
Stitch around raw edges using a 1/4″ seam allowance (yes, yes, really, right sides out, wrong sides together!).
Turn the corner and sew across the bottom.
Trim corners (raw edges only, please!).
Turn the pillowcase wrong-side out. Look how nice the BUN looks next to the HOT DOG!
Press the side and bottom seams flat.
Stitch using a 1/2″ seam allowance.
Look at that, you made French Seams…no raw edges!
Turn right side out and press.
See how nicely the MUSTARD lines up? Did you notice that your condiment made a lovely little flap, too?
It looks good outside and in!
And hey, action shot!
Now, let me know if you’re as addicted to these as I am! This beauty is number 11 and I know I’ll make more. In addition to donating to the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge, they also make great gift bags for quilts!
Need a hardcopy? Printable PDF Tutorial!
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