It's a Ponycase!

I finished something today! This the the pillowcase made of MLP fabric I was talking about:



About a month ago (maybe more now), I was at the JoAnn's. They've recently moved around their quilting fabric department, and it seems like they've started selling more "licensed character" fabric. So I looked to see if they had Pony fabrics.

They did. I bought this one, first because it is so very bright and cheerful, but also, it was one of the only ones to include the WHOLE Mane 6. (Rarity and Applejack often get left off. I don't know if it's assumed they appeal less to children, or they're not as "colorful," or maybe the pink/purple/blue of Pinkie/Twilight/Rainbow is considered more aesthetic, or what).

Here's another photo:



I used the "burrito pillowcase" instructions from the All People Quilt site (it's a .pdf file, and it autodownloads, so I can't give the direct link - if you do a "burrito pillowcase" web search, you'll find it, or you can go to the All People Quilt website ('ware the many ads) and search for it from there. I think they even have a video tutorial).

I did the "cuff" of the case going the opposite direction to make it more interesting. The original pattern suggests using a contrast fabric, which would work as well. The cuff is what makes it "burrito"....you essentially sew the cuff on with the other fabric rolled up inside, and then pull it out one of the open short edges of the cuff. It's a neat trick, and gives a good finished edge.

Really, the only hard part was figuring out the directionality - with a directional fabric like this one, you want it going a certain way, so you have to go, okay, do I cut it with the 41" length parallel to the design, or the 26 1/2" length? (The way this fabric was printed: the 41" length, which meant that rather than just using the width-of-fabric, I had to cut a rectangle specifically). With a non directional fabric, it would be a lot easier.

The sewing itself is quite straightforward. I think it would be a good "advanced beginner" project (it does involve French seaming, and you have to have a little sewing machine expertise to do that first narrow seam). The nice thing though is ALL the seams are enclosed (that's what a French seam is) so there will be no raveling and no yucky threads hanging around. That kind of thing pleases me inordinately much; back when I had more time to sew clothing I sometimes made blouses with French seams (well, as much as practicable - sometimes not every pattern lends itself to all the seams being done that way) and I had a couple pajama patterns I could do with entirely French seams.

And here's a close up of the fabric, just for good measure.



This kind of project reminds me of why I'm glad I learned to sew - it really only took about an hour (and part of that was squinting at the pattern and trying to figure out what direction to cut the fabric in) and it makes a very pleasing product.