pillowcase projects

{ craft hope } project 9: pillowcases

Have you heard about Craft Hope's Project 9 Pillowcases!?

ConKerr Cancer was started back in 2002, when Cindy Kerr's son was hospitalized for cancer treatment and she brightened his room with a fun pillowcase.  Once she saw how much Ryan loved it, she began making pillowcases for the other children in the oncology unit.  Since then, over 210,000 pillowcases have been made for sick children all over the world

Pc2
Wow.  (Seriously, I challenge you to read through their website and not get choked up!  Especially the tribute to her son.  *sob*)  Most of the time when I read stuff like this, I just get overwhelmed.  I want to help, but I don't know how to reach out.  You know what?  I can make a pillowcase.  So can you. 

This is a quick and easy project.  Once you have your fabrics washed, it really only takes about 15 minutes to make one.  What a great way to use some of that stash fabric, too.  :)

I've challenged myself to make four cases: one for a teenage boy, a teenage girl, a little boy and a little girl. 

Pc1

So far I've got the boys done.  A Mizzou-inspired simple combo (Go Tigers!!) and a Spidey. 

Pc5

Up next, some pink and florals. Girls. They're so easy.

Pc 003

Want to join in?  ConKerr Cancer has the super simple directions on their site and the Craft Hope project deadline is September 15.  You may, of course, continue to make pillowcases for them as long as you want! 

Please send your finished pillowcases the address specified by your regional coordinator.

(I was thinking about upping the ante on the free book drawing -- like telling others on your blog or facebook about Craft Hope's Project 9, but I have no idea how to keep track of that stuff.  But why don't you it anyway??  Spread Hope!!!)

xoxo
~ misschris


{ sewing } another pillowcase nightgown

It cracks me up every time I arrive at a shop counter with an armful of linens.  Most of the thrift shop keepers where I find my best stuff are quite familiar with me, my gaggle of girls, and the stacks of florals and embroidered pretties I bring to the checkout counter. More than once I have been asked, "Do you actually use all of these?"

Well, yes.  Of course I do!  Just not always on my bed.

it is as soft as it is pretty.

Vintage sheets and pillowcases can be so very soft if they are of good quality and condition.  Hundreds of washings add another dimension of softness that just can't duplicated with new fabric.  

And then there is the nostalgia factor.

There was nothing like the feel of my grandmother's sheets in the upstairs bedroom that my mom and her sister had shared as children.  My sister and I would share that same room with the windows open, the sheers catching the night breeze. The twin beds just fit under the slanted roof and the walls were a pale aqua that is so popular these days.  After rubbing our fingers over the nubbiness of the the Martha Washington bedspreads, we would pull them back all the way.  The windows might be open, but it was still hot.  And then we would lie there, under the cool softness of the cotton sheets, whispering to each other until one of us fell asleep. 

Do you have memories like that? 

eyelet 
ruffle trim is way high up on that sweetness list. pretty 
sure.

Bedrooms were so different 'back then' before the invasion of licensed character bedding!  Who started that?  Was it Star Wars?  Hollie Hobbie?  Raggedy Ann? 

Anyway... at the risk of sounding like a broken record, (or a scratched CD, or an infected MP3, or what even works for that anymore?) this particular thrifted king size pillowcase was begging to be 'nightgowned.'    

nightgown - bias tape + trim

I cut a yoke out of white sheeting and edged with bias tape made from the pillowcase.  There is a keyhole in the back and it attaches with a simple button and loop.  You could double the yoke and self-line it, but I didn't want that much weight or stiffness on the top of the nightgown.  It's so hot, why add extra bulk?

Pre-made eyelet ruffle is my new favorite thing.

vintage pillowcase nightgown

And now Fidget has a new favorite nightgown.  I hope she and Wonderbaby will have sweet summer bedtime memories of their own someday.  Fidge already has plans for bunkbeds. 

fidge liked it.

I have a few more ideas, so prepare yourself for a few versions over the next few weeks.  If I'm not careful, I am going to become known as the crazy pillowcase lady. 

On the other hand, maybe I already am!  Oh well.  I'm okay with that.

xoxo
miss chris