Finished jersey pillow covers

Hello everyone,

in my forum post I asked you for tips on sewing a pillow cover out of jersey. I’ve since put this into practice and am sharing my experiences today. Maybe this will be helpful for some of you who are new to sewing.

The goal: I wanted to sew four pillow covers out of cotton jersey fabric with a hidden zipper.

1. Jersey is stretchy, so it changes size as you sew. That’s why it’s important to cut the pieces for the pillows (in my case, 42 x 42 cm for a 40 x 40 cm pillow) along the grain. The fabric stretches more along the grain than across it.

2. Since I wanted to sew a total of 4 pillows, I tried out a few techniques for sewing in zippers. Since I’d never sewn in a zipper before, one method was as good as the next.

3. I discovered that I have a zipper foot for my sewing machine. I put it on and tried to sew a straight seam 5 mm away from the zipper teeth. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to do that at all. The seam was crooked and uneven. I had no guide at all. But that was surely because I’m simply not familiar with the zipper foot and don’t know how to use it. So I removed it again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video online showing how to sew with the zipper foot on my Janome sewing machine. I’ll have to look more thoroughly. Maybe all zipper feet are the same?

4. Without the zipper foot, I was better able to keep the needle moving roughly parallel to the zipper teeth. At the ends, though, it was still difficult to sew in the zipper, partly because the zipper pull always got in the way at the end. Also, on my sewing machine, you can’t adjust the needle to enter the fabric far to the right or left. It just sews in the center, so there’s little way to maintain a specific distance from the raised teeth of the zipper.

5. I always sewed in the zipper first and then sewed the entire pillow shut inside out. Every time, I had trouble opening the closed zipper. I even had to rip the seam open again so I could pull the zipper down. So it’s a good idea to open the zipper a little before sewing the whole thing together.

6. In my opinion, Nina’s tip is very important: With jersey fabric, be sure to reinforce the two edges where you’ll be sewing in the zipper with iron-on interfacing. I inserted “hem strips” like these, which you use to iron down the folded hem. This makes the jersey much sturdier and helps it hold its shape better.

So, enough of my insights. Pros surely have all this down pat. But these were my first zippers. You have to practice that, too. Of course, you can take a look now. One pillow is still missing from the photo—I’ll add it soon. Unfortunately, the “invisible zipper” is now visible on mine (at the bottom edge of the pillow). But that’s the best I could do. The four corners of the pillow aren’t as sharp as they should be either, but I’m sure my granddaughter won’t mind. And the adults who put the cover on and take it off will just have to turn a blind eye.

Best regards, Ina

They look really great!

Wow, Ina, that turned out great again. It’s also thanks to the fabric and the design. Just beautiful.
I always used a Chinese chopstick to shape the corners. It wasn’t too pointy.

Ina, take it in stride—it was your first zipper, and you’ll get better with every one you do. :-) Especially since it doesn’t look nearly as bad as you describe. That’s also one reason why there’s a 3-year apprenticeship for tailoring. :-) For me, it finally worked after what felt like sewing in 100 zippers with a straight seam. :-)

Best regards, Inge

Hello everyone, thank you so much for your compliments. That always motivates me a lot.

Yes, Inge, I actually had to think about that while sewing. It’s not for nothing that it takes a 3-year apprenticeship—every single skill has to be learned. And if you don’t have an instructor but are self-taught, you just have to figure it out through practice. By the way, I only showed you the third zipper. The first two weren’t presentable. But it goes to show that you have to practice things to get better at them.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina, this looks absolutely fantastic, and the design is very pretty, too. I admire your talents. I just don’t have the time right now to delve deeper into this.

But there’s a time for everything. Thank you for all the tips you’ve collected!

Here’s another little tip: If you carefully trim the seam allowances at an angle on the left side at the corners, you’ll be able to shape the tips better.

 

The pillows turned out great!
And the zippers look good, too!
But you made it extra difficult for yourself 😉—these are concealed zippers, which are waaaay harder to sew in than regular ones.
There’s a really simple trick to get past the zipper: Sew the zipper up to about 1 cm away from the zipper head, leave the needle in the fabric, raise the presser foot, pull the zipper behind the presser foot, lower the presser foot, and continue sewing.

LG

Dear Ruth, dear Nina, thank you so much for your tips. When Nina says that concealed zippers are much harder than regular ones, I’m looking forward to the regular ones even more! With some garments, you just can’t do without a zipper, so by then you’ll have to know how to do it. You don’t really notice it on a pillow, but a poorly sewn-in zipper on the back of a little dress really gives away that you’re an amateur. I’ll keep practicing on pillows for now.

Best regards, Ina

Yesterday I gave the pillows away. The kids loved them. They were christened with a full-scale pillow fight. After that, they were put to use building a mole burrow. My grandson complained that he’d only gotten one pillow, but his sister had gotten four. I guess I’ll have to “make up for it” again.

No one even noticed my crookedly sewn-in zippers. The parents thought it was important that the pillowcases had pretty designs (not too brightly colored, but rather delicate) and that the pillow inserts were washable, too. These are even eco-certified and washable at 95°C.

The little one managed to snag one and rested her head on it. Cotton jersey is a great fabric for a pillowcase! So pleasantly soft and cozy. So I can definitely recommend it.

Best regards, Ina