How to make a pillowcase with an inner flap

Remember this cake?

This was the cake I made for my grandson's first birthday, remember?  I made it to look like his much loved teddy bear (which we fondly call "Bearie"). At 2 years and 7 months old now, he still sleeps with Bearie, along with a whole lot of other cuddly creatures.

This post is not about the teddy bear or cake though.  It is about pillowcases! I've been making lots of them lately. 

I've never bought licensed beddings before as they are really expensive. Licensed fabrics are too, so I only buy them when they are on sale. Now my grandson has lots of pillowcases with his favourite characters on them 😍!

I thought you might like to learn how to make these pillowcases. They are great for any level of sewer, even beginners. Simple straight stitches and no serger required. They are fun and super easy to make! Here goes...

HOW TO SEW PILLOWCASES WITH INNER FLAPS

For a pair of pillowcases, you will need:

1 meter (or yard) printed quilting weight cotton fabric (for the pillowcase front)

1 meter (or yard) coordinating plain quilting weight cotton fabric (for the pillowcase back)

coordinating thread

sewing machine

other sewing essentials like ruler, fabric markers, pins, scissors. etc.

Before you begin this project, find a pillowcase that you already have that suits the size of your pillows. You need to base your measurements on your pillowcase because "standard" sizes vary.

Measure the length (longer side) and the width (shorter side) of your pillowcase. (I will be using inches in the tutorial.) Take note of these dimensions as your Length (L) and your Width (L).

1. From your printed fabric, cut two pieces with dimensions: L plus 2" by W plus 2".  From your plain fabric, cut two pieces with dimensions: L plus 7" by W plus 2".

2. With wrong side facing up and shorter side on the top, fold the top of your printed fabric 1/2" in.  Press. Then fold another 1/2" in. Press again.

2. Do the same thing with your plain fabric. After the two 1/2" folds, fold again 5" down. Press.

3. Stitch the 1/2" folds on both printed and plain fabrics.

4.  With wrong sides facing, place the front and back of the pillowcase together. Pin in place.

5. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, stitch down one long side, then along the bottom, then up the other long side.  Do not stitch the top of the pillowcase!

6. Trim the seam allowance to about 1/8". Clip the bottom corners as well. Be careful not to cut into the stitches!

7. Turn the pillowcase wrong side out. Push the seams and corners out well.

8. Turn the flap over to the front side. Doing so will enclose the opening at the top. Make sure the top edges of the two fabrics are aligned well, especially the corners. Pin in place.

9. Sew the bottom and sides as in step 5.

10.  Turn the flap over to the back side (revealing the pillowcase opening), then turn the pillowcase right side out. That's it! Too easy, right? Now go make the other one!

And then some more!

Hope you find that helpful! Next time, I will show you one way you can make use of the excess pillowcase fabrics.

Have a good weekend ahead!

One last backpack (and some printed books for sale!)

{If you aren't interested to read about the backpack (again) then feel free to scroll down to the bottom for some news on the printed "Cakes from the Heart" book I am selling.}

So...I'm back again with one last backpack.  As I've mentioned the other day, I was going to make another bag, this time, for an adult.  I am actually giving this to my soon-to-be 22 years old niece for her birthday in March.  I noticed she was more into fabric drawstring and/or tote bags than leather bags so I thought this would be a perfect present for her 😄.

The fabric is again a Japanese cotton duck.  The skulls are actually shiny, metallic gold in person.  When I first saw this fabric at Spotlight, I knew straightaway that this would make a great bag for my niece.

The lining is again a pre-quilted fabric, this time in black.  

Unfortunately, I made a mistake in cutting the fabric pieces for the side pockets, so instead of them being elasticized, I had to make do with simple slip pockets 😭.  They're alright, I guess, but I was a little disappointed nonetheless.

I ran out of polyester webbing so I just made the fabric straps.  They turned out well and coordinated with the black plastic sliders.

I am so pleased with the three backpacks that I made and I certainly loved the time I spent sewing them, even it meant late nights for me! I probably will pack up my sewing machine for now (or if I can be bothered, I might just make small zippered bags and/or wristlets out of the excess fabrics before doing so!).

Ok, so now for some news on the printed book.  I recently ordered three more softcover copies from Blurb as they were discounted again.  I have now listed them on my Etsy shop.  The price is still much lower than the selling price over at Blurb but higher than the first time I listed printed books on Etsy because my price depends on how much I got them for (meaning how much discount I received). If you are interested in purchasing a copy, you can do so here.

Have a good week!

Backpacks

I wanted to veer away from cakes for a short bit and talk about one of my other loves..........sewing!

I am guessing that most of you weren't here from the very start.  Way back before the cakes started, I was so into sewing and those following me were more into crafting than baking.  Not long after I learned how to sew simple tote bags from the internet, I started making bag tutorials myself.  Two of the most visited (non-cake) posts here are, in fact, my messenger bag and city backpack tutorials.  I was and still am, very proud of those bags, because I created them at a time when I was still very inexperienced in sewing.

Shortly before my grandson was born, I sewed lots and lots of things for him - quilts, blankets, rompers, bibs, nappy stacker, jacket, small pillowcases, etc. but one thing I didn't get to make was a bag! Now that he is two and a half years old and going to daycare once a week, I thought of making him a small backpack 😄. I used the same pattern for the city backpack but I changed it a bit to make it more kiddie-friendly.  I turned the slip front pocket into a zippered one and I also added elasticized side pockets.

Here is the first bag I came up with.  The fabric is a heavy Japanese cotton duck with dinosaur prints (Lachie's fixation nowadays is dinosaurs!).

Isn't that so adorable?

I reinforced the fabric straps with polyester webbing.  They turned out very sturdy but was quite thick to sew into and I had to force them into the metal sliders.

Instead of sewing a drawstring from fabric (as with the original city backpack), I used a nylon cord and a coordinating cord stopper.

The bag lining is a pre-quilted fabric.  I have used this kind of fabric with many of the bags I have made in the past.  I like not only the look of it but also it's thickness and softness.

After I finished the bag, I realized that the side pockets were a little short.  It was ok for a small drink bottle but taller bottles might fall out 😞.

For a final touch, I ironed on a label. Everything I make for my little one is made with love, of course!

Although I was very happy with the dinosaur backpack, I decided to make another one because I wasn't satisfied with the side pockets.  Here is the second one, now with a similar Japanese cotton duck, this time with doggy prints 😉!

The side pockets are now taller.

It holds Lachie's bigger drink bottle more securely.

The straps are much simpler with just polyester webbing.

The lining is still the same pre-quilted fabric!

And of course, still with the "Made with love by Grandma" label 💓.

Overall, having made these bags, I'm one happy grandma!

I still have one more backpack lined up.  My fabric this time is for an adult.  I will do the backpack the same way.  Let's see how it will turn out!

A Baptism and Some Rosary Bracelets

I had the opportunity to make a baptismal cake this past weekend for the most adorable baby boy.

I really wanted buttercream roses to adorn the front of the cake but I was so tired after having done 3 other birthday cakes earlier that I couldn't do them anymore.  I think though that the simplicity of this cake is what made it more beautiful :) so I'm glad I stopped when I did.

Along with this cake, I also volunteered to make cards and keepsakes for the occasion. 

I did these a week in advance so I actually designed the cake to match them. 

See that beanie the baby is wearing in the photo? Here's a closer look at my cake topper.

Cute, right?

I printed out the cards myself and also handmade the one decade cord rosaries.  The acrylic beads and crucifixes have been in my (almost) forgotten rosary-making stash for ages and it's a good thing I got to use up a lot of them for this purpose. Except for the nylon cord, I didn't spend on anything else.

In the process of making these giveaways, I discovered that I still had a lot of beads and other materials for rosaries.  So I started putting together bracelets for no specific reason and before I even knew it, I already finished a whole bunch!

It's been a long time since I stopped selling rosaries online but I figured since I already had all these bracelets made, there's really no harm in trying again. If you are interested to have one so you can use them for prayer anytime, anywhere, I have them listed in my Etsy shop. I might make some car rosaries as well since I still have a lot of the brown wood beads left.

If you can't have my cakes because you are in the other side of the world, maybe you'd want to own something else created by me?  You can't eat it but you can keep it forever and ever!

Have a good week!

The month of July

July is always a busy month for our family.  Two of my kids were born on this month - my daughter on the 28th and my second son, on the 31st. This year was extra special as my daughter turned 18.

Being an only girl, you might think that we had big plans to celebrate my daughter's birthday.  To be honest, we didn't. Early this year, she went on a study tour to Greece and Italy and I really thought that was it.  No more big party.  After all, the trip was already a huge expense.  My daughter herself was very undecided on whether she wanted a party or not.  Since all her friends were turning 18, nearly all the weekends already had parties scheduled and she couldn't be bothered thinking about what else to do.  

We weren't keen on preparing anything until a friend asked us about it (around end of June) and convinced us to give our daughter some loving attention by throwing her a party.  She was right. 

Come first week of July, I unexpectedly got sick.  Sick enough to be hospitalized.  I suddenly had severe stomach pain one night, went to the hospital a day after to see a doctor, given a blood test and ultrasound and was admitted then and there!  The next day, I underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, or in lay man's terms, a gallbladder removal surgery.  My surgery lasted for almost 4 hours (when normally the procedure only takes one hour) as the surgeon said, my gallbladder was very, very inflammed and infected. I really don't get sick ever so this was all a big shock to me!

While in hospital, plans for a surprise birthday party for my daughter went underway.  Imagine me, as soon as I got home to recover, texting all of my daughter's friends, printing out invitations and handmaking giveways while she was at school.  My husband took care of booking the venue and then for the next 2 weeks, woke up at around 4am everyday to quietly work on a video presentation before going to work. 

I am not going to go into details anymore of how the whole scheme was carried out but suffice it to say that the party was a huge success!  My daughter was clueless and was totally surprised!  Wish I could share with you the video of when she entered the venue and also photos of the party itself, but for privacy reasons, I'd rather not.  It was a fun night with lots of food, a photo booth, touching videos and well wishes even from family in the Philippines.  It was a small celebration shared only with the most significant people in my daughter's life. 

Given my recent surgery, I had little energy to bake and decorate a cake BUT of course, I just had to!  Here's the cake I secretly made for the occasion.  I made it to match the colours of the invitation.

It's small (8") and simple but I loved how the bright colours really popped out.

We didn't serve this cake as there were loads of desserts in the venue.  I sliced it all up and gave it away for some of the guests to take home.  Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the cut cake but it looked really good inside - 4 beautiful layers of green tea cake!

Today, the 31st, it's my son's turn.  He's 20 now! For him, I made another Baskin Robbins-inspired cake.  

It's kind of another version of the cookies and cream but Baskin Robbins calls their ice cream cake, Cookie Overload.  You can understand why just by looking at it.

My cake has two 2" layers of chiffon - chocolate at the bottom and vanilla-Oreo at the top.  It is filled and frosted with chocolate whipped cream and garnished with Oreo crumbs.  It looked a little bit weird with just one whole cookie on top so I added more cookies to finish off.

I will share how I did this cake on my next post, which hopefully will be within the next few days. I took some photos of the process so yes, I intend to be back with them soon!

In case you might want to know, I am feeling ok now.  My incisions have healed well and I am now able to eat normally.  I lost some weight without meaning to and I must say, it is one good thing that came out of being sick!  I am back to doing the usual stuff (except heavy lifting) but I am taking a rest from selling cakes. Understandable, right? Baking once in a while is fine but for now, just for family only!

Hope all of you are well.