Revoa

From the page: One curtain, a thousand lives

Idea 3

Envelope-style pillow cover

Easy 40 min

The envelope technique was born of household thrift: seamstresses of the past turned bed sheets and curtains into pillow covers with no fasteners at all, just folds. It works because the fabric overlaps at the back, creating a "pocket" that holds its shape through tension alone — the pressure of the filling keeps everything in place.

What you need

  • Old curtain (cotton and linen are ideal, for their firmness)
  • Fabric scissors
  • Measuring tape or ruler
  • Pins
  • Thread and needle or sewing machine
  • An old pillow for measuring (or new stuffing)

How to make it

  1. 1

    Measure the pillow from corner to corner and cut a rectangle of fabric with that width and double the length, plus 20 extra centimeters — this extra will be the overlap that closes the cover.

  2. 2

    Press the cut edges inward twice (one 1 cm fold and another 1 cm fold) and baste or secure with pins; this hides the raw thread and keeps the fabric from fraying with use.

  3. 3

    Sew all four edges of the rectangle, always on the wrong side of the fabric — this simple finish, called a hem, keeps everything clean inside and out.

  4. 4

    Turn the fabric with the pretty sides inward and fold the ends over each other in the middle, leaving about 10 centimeters of overlap — this "flap" becomes the envelope's closure.

  5. 5

    Sew the two open sides with straight stitches to the edge, reinforcing with a backstitch (going back a few stitches over themselves) at the beginning and end, where the fabric undergoes the most tension.

  6. 6

    Turn it right side out through the envelope opening, push out the corners with your fingers or a capped pen, and slip the pillow inside.

Finishing touches

Use the curtain's original hem as the cover's bottom hem — you save one seam and get a factory-quality finish. 40x40 cm covers made from patterned curtain fabric look great in sets of three, mixing patterns and colors.

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