** This thread discusses the Content article: Another Great Homemade Gift - Holiday Pillowcases **


After posting my favorite homemade gift for a teenager I thought, in the spirit of fairness, I should post a great gift idea for younger children. This gift is always a huge hit with the 4-7 crowd, and it keeps on giving, but it requires some pre-planning and very basic sewing ability. It's a set of Holiday Pillowcases.






This set of Holiday Pillowcases will include a homemade pillowcase for each of these
occasions: New Years Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter,
Back to School, sick day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving,
Christmas (and birthday if you're lucky enough to find an appropriate
fabric, but it's hard to come by). Here's the hitch, you have to
have the material for an entire set before you can give this gift.
You're looking for small-print cotton fabric. For a standard pillow
you need 1 yard per pillowcase. To save money, gather the fabric after
the holiday once it goes on sale. Buy it off the clearance table.
(I've found the best deals at Walmart and JoAnn Fabric) I shoot for
$1/yard but have paid up to $4.




The first step is to cut the material so that the edges are completely straight. Generally, the fabric is wide enough off the bolt, so you only have to cut 3 sides. A
self-healing mat, ruler and a rolling blade work great for this step.
Next, fold the "top" (one of the short sides) down 3 inches and sew it
in place to make a hem. Then fold the material in half lengthwise (the same way it
came off the bolt), except this time put the "right" sides together so
that it appears inside-out. Pin the material in place so that it won't
move, then sew around the 2 open sides (not the top). You'll sew in
the shape of an L and when it's done, turn it inside-out and
wallaa...pillowcase! Simple. Even my kids can do it.




For New
Years Day you can find material that looks like fireworks. For
Valentine's Day look for hearts. For St. Patty's Day you can get
shamrocks. For Easter there are fabrics with all kinds of bunnies and
eggs. Back to school material has buses, blackboards and students on
it. It's not hard to find. Sick day is made from the same material
used to make pediatric nurse's scrubs. It has kids and band-aids and
crutches on it. You get the idea. The only one that's really
difficult to find is birthday. It's hard because anything with a
birthday theme usually has a character on it, like Dora or a Sesame
Street muppet. Those guys may be fun for a while, but the child will
outgrow them. The point is to be able to use these pillowcases for
several years. Here's how to put the gift together:




Fold all of
the pillowcases into squares, stack them neatly, and tie them with a
bow. Tell the child (or write a note explaining if you're mailing them) that they can only
sleep on the special pillowcase the week of the special occasion or
holiday (or whenever they are sick). Send a list of all of the special
occasion pillowcases and see if the child can guess which one
is which. They can also be a fun teaching
tool...have the child list the months in a year, then have them see if
they can match the pillowcase to the correct month. Great incentive to learn the months of the year and the holidays. Or instead of
gifts use them as bribes (which I am not above)...make a set for your child and have them do
something each month to earn the privilege of sleeping on them. I've
made several sets and the kids always love them.



Warning: The
initial reaction is sometimes confusion if the child is very
young, but once they figure out how it works they look forward to the
special pillowcase of the month.