Quick-Sew Tee-Shirt Pillowcases

Hi y'all!  I meant to get this post up yesterday, but it is summer and I find myself constantly battling my kids for computer time.  Are we the only family in America that still only has ONE computer?!  Not that I'm complaining . . . I'll just be posting a little less frequently {and at super odd times} for the next couple of months.  No big.

Today I'm sharing a quick and easy dad-inspired sewing project that I have been meaning to share for years.  It may not necessarily be a gift you make for your father, but you can use his old tee-shirts so your kids have a little piece of him to sleep with. {But if your husband is lucky enough to have a man-cave in your house these would be fun to use in there.}   I originally made these  three years ago when we re-did our boys' room. 

I realized I never followed up with a tutorial, so here it is.  Three {short?} years later.  My husband had a few old shirts we wanted to use to make pillowcases, but we needed several more.  That's when you hit Goodwill on a dollar day and pick up a few of the biggest tee-shirts you can find.  The bigger the tee-shirt is the easier it will be to cut out the pillowcase pieces and place the design where you want it.  XL will work {just barely}, XXL is better, and XXXL is perfect!  We had no problem finding many that we liked.  You'll use two different tee-shirts per pillowcase so you can get two that coordinate or shake it up and use completely mismatched designs.  It looks really cool both ways.

I use this awesome pillowcase tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets for every pillowcase I make.  It is SOOOO easy and has great pictures explaining every step of the process.  The only thing I changed for my tee-shirt pillowcases is that I didn't use a contrasting trim between the main body and the cuff.  You'll need a 27"x42" rectangle for your main body and an 11"x42" rectangle for your cuff.  It's a little tricky to get those sizes out of tee-shirts, but not impossible.  Here's how I figured it out:

 {shirt available here - but we found it at Goodwill!}

{shirt available here}

After you have your tee-shirts cut up, just follow the directions in Jessica and Mandy's awesome tutorial, omitting the contrasting band.  I'll be honest, when I sewed the first pillowcase I didn't have any idea how rolling up the main body piece inside the cuff piece was going to work, but I followed the steps implicitly and I was amazed at the result!  You'll end up with a truly professional looking pillowcase.

{The inside cuff seam has no exposed seam allowances.  Amazing!}

Looks good on the outside, too!  My boys love how soft these pillowcases are.  The funny designs don't hurt either.

I told you I'd share some masculine crafts projects this week in honor of the men we love.  This has to be one of my favorite manly projects of all time.  In case you missed the previous Fathers Day posts here they are:  Printable Fathers Day cards, Retro Candy Treat, MANcakes for Fathers Day breakfast.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend!

 I'll be linking this project up to: