Personalised Pillow & Bolster cases

Remember that I mentioned in my previous post that I've a surprise gift for my parent? Well, I've just finished them. Althought it could have been better made and I made a mistake (I'll share about this later in my post), I think my parent will love them nevertheless for the effort : )

It's a personalised pillow and bolster case that I've sewn the chinese character for Dad and Mum and even our Family name.  I've bought the bedsheet with pillowcases and bolstercase from Aussino and added personal touch. Do you want to try doing it? It's actually quite simple.

Material

bought this set of Queen size fitted sheet+2 pillowcases+bolstercase at Aussino

Ready bought pillowcases & bolstercase
3 jelly roll [it's a pre-cut long strip of fabric measuring about 44" X 2.5"]
3 small pieces of linen cloth [slightly bigger than your word that you intend to print]
fabric dye & brush
some lace for decoration

Instruction
Pillowcase
1) Cut 2 jelly rolls to 39" each as we are going to wrap this strip around the short width of the pillowcase.  Mine measure 19"across the short side so [19 X 2 + 1" allowance]

2) fold in the edges along both of the long sides by 0.25" & iron flat & set it aside.

3) Print out the name, in this case, the chinese characters on the non-shiny side of a piece of freezer paper. You can adjust the size to make sure that it fits between the width of the jelly roll (with long hem ironed in). I actually had a hard time finding these freezer paper in Singapore. Got this from Cold Storage at Leisure Park Mall at B1.

4) Use a sharp pen knife, cut out the words carefully, especially the small pieces within the words.

5) Then iron the freezer paper with the word on a piece of linen cloth. Make sure that the shiny side face the cloth. Place your iron on them enough for the paper to stick to the linen.  Too long and your paper may melt. My linen measure about 3" by 2.5" as the jelly roll is about 2"after folding in. This includes a 0.25" seam allowance for all the 4 sides.

5) Use a small brush (I've actually used my lipstick brush) and paint over the word. Be careful to place them on a piece of paper so that the paint don't go through and stain your table. I've left them to dry overnight and paint a second coat in the morning before I went to work.

6) When it's dry, you can peel off the freezer paper.

7) Iron a piece of medium weight interfacing behind each linen pieces to give extra support.  Using the soluble pen, draw the seam or the finish size.

8) You can either sew around the 4 sides of the linen piece before sewing them to the jelly roll or sew them later when you attach the jelly roll to the pillowcase. I've tried both. 2nd method is neater but require alot of pins and precision to get the hem all tucked in. Below shows the 1st method. I've went round the 4 sides, trying to sew as close to the edge as possible and tuck in all the raw edges. Make sure that the whole piece fits within the jelly roll. You should place your jelly roll on the pillowcase and mark off where you want to place the words.

9) Next, mark 2" along the short edge of the pillowcase using a soluble pen.

10) Cut out a piece of lace measuring 19.5"and place along the drawn line. My lace is only for the front of the pillowcase. If you want the lace to go around it, you should cut double the length.  Next, line your jelly roll with your word slightly overlapping the lace. I've chose my wording to be in the centre. Pin in place.

11) Flip over the pillowcase and continue to pin the jelly roll along the 2" line. For cleaner look, the start and end of your jelly roll should be at the back. Just make sure that you fold the raw edges at both ends in before you sew them. Sew around the jelly roll along the 2 long sides. If you choose to sew the linen pieces now, make sure you go over all the 4 edges of the piece.

Congrats! You've just finish 1 pillowcase. You can do the same for the other pillowcase but make sure that you now do the sewing on the other side of the pillowcase cause you want them to mirror each other when you place them on the bed. I made the grave mistake of happily sewing on the same side : ( Don't make the same mistakes okay?

Bolster Case
1) Cut the jelly roll to length 40", including a seam allowance of 1"as the circumference of the bolster is 39".

2) Same step as above to iron the hem on both of the long edges in.

3) Cut the lace to be 40" long as I wanted it to go round the bolster since this is round and has not fixed front facing.

4) Sew the linen piece on the jelly roll after you have decided on the position on the bolster. Place the lace, jelly roll on 1 end of the bolster. Pin and sew in place. You are done!

I didn't sew any on the fitted sheet since it gathered around the edges, making it impossible to sew a straight piece of jelly roll on them. I can't wait to see them on my parent's bed. : )