Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bedside Caddy from Vintage Pillow Case




Using only the straight stitch on your sewing machine and a vintage pillowcase you can make a sweet bedside caddy.

Are you ready to begin?





1.  Choose a standard vintage pillowcase with an all-over floral motif.  Launder and press.  (Estate sales, thrifts stores, and Goodwill all have great vintage pillowcases that have long ago lost their matching sheets.  You can also check with Grandma.  The back of her linen closet may yield some long lost beauties.  Etsy and Ebay also sell vintage pillowcases, but the sellers will charge you several dollars per case.)





2.  Fold long sides together forming a long rectangle.  Pin along the edges.  Sew a 1/4" seam around all four edges.





3.  Choose your favorite vintage image cropping and/or sizing to no more than 3 X 5 inches.  Print the image onto June Tailor's Quick Fuse Iron-on Ink-jet Fabric sheets following the manufacturer's instructions.  You can borrow my image below.  (This is one of my relatives.)  The other caddy samples that you will see in my photographs use images from Sandy Babb's at Quill Cottage  and Karen at the Graphics Fairy.





4.  Cut out the image and iron onto a coordinating piece of non-fraying fabric such as fleece, felt, wool, or flannel.  Use pinking sheers to cut around the fabric leaving about a 1/2" border outside of the vintage image.





5.  Use Scotch Blue Painter's Tape (It's wonderful for marking fabric!) to mark a 7" square at the top of what was the opening of the pillowcase.  You will build your vintage collage in the 7" square.



6.  Attach the vintage image to the 7" square by taking 3 strands of embroidery thread and sewing a free hand running stitch around the border fabric.



7.  Embellish with bits of crochet, old buttons, charms, lace, and ribbons.






8.  Fold the 7" collage pocket up wrong sides together.  Slip stitch the outside edges.  Remove the bottom Painter's Tape.





9.  Straight stitch along the edge of the remaining Painter's Tape to form the two pockets needed for the caddy.  Remove the Painter's Tape.  Last minute embellishments can still be added.

10.  Slide the long flat part of the pillowcase between your mattress and box springs to secure your caddy.

You are only limited by your imagination!




 




Amy

"The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:"


Jeremiah 31:3







5 comments:

  1. Hi Amy,
    You just left a comment on my blog. I wanted to let you know that you can order Stampin Up! product from me, online. If you have any questions at all please feel free to contact me. I can see from your blog that you are an amazing crafter! I wish that I could sew :)
    http://www.ashleysdandelionwishes.blogspot.com/

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  2. These came out great, I like the different elements you put in them. Thanks so much for stopping by Laura

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  3. Very very sweet little things. Love the flowery color, particularly I love yellow. GREAT way to turn into caddy. Vintage of old memorable photos embellished with lace is so pretty.

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  4. Dearest Amy,
    thank you for your very kind comments on my blog, you blessed me!! How did I not know about you, your blog is so cute and I love all your vintage/ sewing projects!! I'm following along dear and will be back for visits often! Have a happy day!!

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  5. Hi Amy! This is a wonderful tutorial! I just love these. What a fun idea, and a great way to use photos!
    Blessings,
    Susie

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