Pillow Shams

Instructions for ruffled pillow shams:
sham 1

The main fabric is 23" wide and 16" tall
The border is 3" wide.
Cut 2- 16" by 3" pieces and sew them (1/4" seam allowance) to the sides of the main piece.
Serge or zig-zag the edges, then iron flat.
border 1

Now cut the border long enough for the top and bottom. (Approximately 28")
Sew, serge, iron.
border 2

Now to create the ruffle, I chose to pleat it, instead of gather it.
I stuck with the random sized and spaced pleats.
I used a 5" wide piece of fabric that was 2 1/2 times as long as the perimeter of the whole pillow.
ruffle 1

I folded it in half and ironed it. Then I connected it
Then I pinned and pleated as I went.
ruffle 2

The front looked like this.
attach ruffle

The back looked like this.
I sewed all the way around to secure the ruffle.
back of ruffle

I did an envelope back on all of my shams.
Measure the finished width and add 8 inches, then cut it in half.
I hemmed them on one side. Those sides would overlap about 4" in the middle.
They would line up with the other side and the top and bottom.
I pinned on the sides and sewed all the way around with 1/2" seam allowance.
envelope back

When you turn it inside out, the back looks like this:
back

This pillow is the same except the ruffle is smaller. It is 3" wide fabric, folded in half.
sham 2

This pillow is similar except for the front piece.
sham 3

For the inner pleats, I used a 4" strip that was 60" long.
I pinned it in the middle, then pleated all the way to the edge on both sides.
1

After I had this, I sewed one side.
2

Then I ironed it flat so the front looked like this.
4

Then I had to pin it to the other piece of pink fabric.
I zig-zaged the raw edges.
I sewed and ironed it flat.
This is what it looked like on the back:
IMG_0596

Here is the front:
IMG_0595

I repeated the same steps for the border, but I kept it straight,
instead of pleating, for no reason other than running out of fabric. :(
I made an envelope back the same as in the instructions above.

I hope this gives you an idea of the easy steps to making simple pillow shams!

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