Easiest Pillow Cover You'll Ever Sew - A Tutorial

Just recently, a friend asked me to remake drapery panels into a valance for her bay window, and if there was enough fabric leftover from the panels, she also wanted some pillows. She wasn't looking for anything fancy, and she certainly wasn't looking to pay the price that the custom drapery maker was going to charge her for each pillow! As it turned out, I had just enough fabric leftover after making four valance panels to also make four 16 inch pillows, and today I'm going to show you how to sew the easiest pillow covers ever! I'm serious - the absolute easiest! All you have to sew is four straight lines! Keep reading and you'll see...

I made 16 inch pillows, but this method will work for any size pillow form you want to cover. So here's the formula:

Pillow width + 1 inch = fabric width
Pillow length + pillow length + 8 inches = fabric length

So for these 16 inch pillows I needed my fabric panels to be 16 + 1 inches wide, so 17 inches wide, and 16 + 16 + 8 inches long, so 40 inches long.

I used one solid piece of fabric leftover from drapery panels for each pillow, but you could use a piece of an old curtain, tablecloth, or even strips or pieces of old jeans or other sturdy clothing sewn together, or leftover pieces of upholstery from having a chair or couch reupholstered. Be sure to ask for the leftovers since you paid for them anyway!

First, press your fabric panel and turn over each short end 1 inch, then 1 inch again and press the folds. Top stitch close to the first fold through all 3 layers of fabric on each end of the panel.


This is what the short edge will look like after stitching along the first fold.


Lay fabric right side up and mark the center of one long edge. Place a ruler next to the edge with the 8 inch mark (or half the pillow length) of the ruler at the center mark on the fabric.


Bring short end from left towards center so fold is on the 16 inch (or pillow length) mark on the ruler.


Then bring short end from the right towards center so fold is on the zero mark on the ruler.


The two hemmed short edges will overlap each other by about 2 inches in the center.


Pin the raw edges. Stitch a 1/2 inch seam along both sides. Do not stitch folded edges.


Turn pillow cover right side out, using a crochet hook or other object to poke out the corners. Slide pillow form inside one half of the cover.


Then bring other half of pillow cover over the rest of the pillow form, smoothing out the form and the cover and making sure the corners of the form are in the corners of the cover.


And there you have the absolute easiest pillow cover you will ever sew! One piece of fabric, one pillow form, a little measuring and pinning, four straight lines on the sewing machine, and you're done!

Now that your sewing confidence has been boosted just a bit, head on over to my Good Eggs Giveaway and put your name in the Easter Basket for a chance to win my Petite Point Flowers Spring Table Runner, or the pattern and charms to make your own! The giveaway ends Sunday evening so get hopping or you'll miss it!

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Basket Weave Stitch Video Tutorial

Hooray! Finally a new stitch to add to the Library of Video Tutorials! This one is the Crocheted Basket Weave Stitch which I have used many times for projects that needed to be warm and cozy. This afghan, made with Red Heart worsted weight yarn in Ranch Red, is my most recent project using this stitch, and it turned out to be so thick and warm and cozy, the perfect project to work on during the cold winter months here in New England!

Here are a few pictures of the sample I worked in the video, just to give you an idea of what the stitch looks like.


This is one side...


...and this is the other side. As you can see, there really is no right or wrong side to this pattern which is one of the reasons I like it so much.


And just look at the thickness in the finished fabric. It's almost like getting a double layer of crocheted coziness in one stitch!


Another thing I like about this stitch, for any project but especially for baby blankets, is that it does not produce holes in the fabric. The stitches are worked pretty tightly together just because of the nature of the basket weave pattern and working each double crochet around the post instead of into the top of the stitch.

Take a look at this video and you'll see what I mean...




If you are looking for an easy stitch to make a baby blanket or full size afghan, this is a good one to try because once you have established the pattern in the first few rows, there is nothing really to think about. It's all double crochet!

Give it a try in a solid color, or a pretty variegated, in worsted weight or sport or even baby yarn. Any way you work it up will turn out warm and cozy!

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Woven Stitch video tutorial

Woven Stitch in Crochet is such a versatile stitch, and one of my very favorites. A great stitch for the novice crocheter, it only uses chain stitch and single crochet. I've shown many examples of Crocheted Woven Stitch here, and one of them you see every time you visit Hooked On Needles. It's that scrumptious baby blanket in all those delicious colors on my website header! The afghans I made for my two younger children, shown HERE, were also crocheted in Woven Stitch. I made a crocheted scarf for the Special Olympics using the Woven Stitch, crocheting the length of the scarf instead of the width for a very interesting effect. More recently, the Big Black Scarf was made using Woven Stitch.

Way back when I first started offering tutorials here at Hooked On Needles, I did a picture tutorial on the Woven Stitch. But I thought it was high time I offered a video tutorial for those of us who learn better by actually seeing something done. So here it is...


Before you jump into the video, I thought I would show you a project that my daughter is working on right now. This is a scarf she is making using Red Heart Soft yarn and a size I hook. You can see just how tight her stitches are in this picture. Not a space to be found! This will be one cozy scarf!

Now on to the video...



Here is the video sample after a few more rows have been completed...

You can see the difference between my sample and the scarf my daughter is working on. I used a size K hook and I crochet a lot more loosely than she does.

With this Woven Stitch, you can also substitute any other stitch for the single crochet. For example, you could use half double crochet in this pattern in place of each single crochet. This would give you a softer and looser fabric. You could even substitute double or triple crochet for an even lacier look and feel. Try out different height stitches using the Woven Stitch pattern and see what you like best for the project you want to make.

Here's one more tip: When working your beginning chain for the Woven Stitch, you can count multiples of three if you want and then add the extra two, but it really is not necessary unless you need to repeat exactly the same thing later on. What I do is just work my beginning chain until it is as long as I want the width of my piece to be, then I start crocheting. If there is a chain leftover at the end of the first row, I will either un-do it and turn it into a knot, or I will work it into the border that I work around the piece at the end. I find that much easier than doing all that counting and worrying about one or two chain stitches!

Coming up soon will be a video tutorial on the Crocheted Basketweave Stitch and a handy tip for those who suffer with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Oh yes, and my 500th post giveaway...can't forget that!

Happy Stitching!

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Half Double Crochet Border - Video Tutorial

After about a week's worth of patient and determined work by my own private technology guru who is my sweet husband of 27 years (we just celebrated our anniversary last week!), I finally have the following video to share with you. For some still-unknown reason, my video would not process in Blogger with all the separate clips put together into one video, which is the way I have made all my video tutorials available here at Hooked On Needles. The first clip by itself processed successfully and the other three clips together also processed successfully. I was ready to give up on it days ago, but my husband kept at it and finally was able to come up with a workable solution, to present this tutorial in two parts!

So without any further delay, below you will find video instruction on how to add a half double crochet border around a knitted garter stitch piece. This video was requested by reader Mat from the knittinghelp.com forum, specifically asking for details on the beginning and the end of the border. So the video shows the process from beginning to end, sparing no detail. If you need to brush up on your half double crochet stitch before giving this a try, you can find my video for that HERE.

Here's Part One:



And here's Part Two:



This is what I started with...a sample piece of knitted fabric in garter stitch which mean every row is done in knit stitch.


Here is the sample complete with the half double crochet border around it.


And this is a close up of one of the corners. You can see how the side edge is uniform because of going into the same hole at the end of the knit rows for each stitch.



If you would like to see other crocheted borders that I have done on knitted blankets, you can click HERE and take your pick. For a while, I was working on those wonderful little oddball baby blankets practically non-stop, but I've had to take a little break from that work in favor of quite a few recent commissioned projects, and of course preparation for Christmas and some family time.

Happy Stitching!

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How to bind a pre-quilted placemat, or anything else!

Remember Martha? She was the very crafty lady who left lots of stuff to be gone through by her neighbor, my husband's aunt, who gave it all to me. Among the bags of crafty things, I found two panels of pre-quilted Christmas placemats. There was a set of 6 oval place mats with a Christmas swan on them, and a set of 6 rectangular place mats with a Christmas scene. All they needed was to be cut out and bound, so that's what I did!

Here's a little picture tutorial on how I used up a 44 inch square piece of green fabric from my stash to get these 12 placemats ready to be donated to my son's school holiday fair.


First I cut out the shapes from the panels.


Then I used THIS fabulous method to turn a 44 inch square of solid green fabric into enough 2 1/4 inch bias binding to finish 12 place mats and still have several yards leftover. Every time I use this method to make bias binding, it amazes me! And the best part is that I only have to sew two seams!


Then I pressed the binding in half with the wrong sides together.


I pinned the raw edges of the binding to the right side of the place mat edge.


I overlapped the end of the binding by about an inch over the beginning of the binding.


Then I opened up the end of the binding and folded about a half inch of the end to the inside and folded it back up again.


Then I lifted up the beginning of the binding...


...and placed it inside the fold of the end of the binding.


Then I pinned the layers together. This gives a nice finish to the joining of the two ends.


Then I stitched through all layers of binding and place mat about 1/4 inch from the raw edge all around the oval.


This is what the place mat looked like at this point.


After the binding was stitched to the place mat, I pressed the binding from the front, away from the place mat. This makes turning the binding to the back easier.


This is what the place mat looked like from the back after the binding was stitched on and pressed.


Then I brought the folded edge of the binding to the back of the place mat and pinned it in place around the edge.


If this were a quilt or if I had more time to finish these, I would have hand stitched the folded edge to the back. But it isn't, and I didn't, so here's what I did...


From the front of the place mat, I machine stitched around the edge so that my needle went between the red and the green and would barely show up. This is called 'stitch in the ditch' quilting and is a handy way to machine quilt without the stitching showing up...much!


And here is what it looks like finished. See, it barely shows. Just don't look too closely at the top of the picture where my stitches went a bit astray onto the binding.


The stitching from the front caught the folded-over edge of the binding on the back.


And there are the six Christmas swans all ready to dress up someone's holiday table.


Here's the stack of 6 Christmas scene place mats, bound in the same way.

These 12 place mats, along with the crocheted floor duster covers and the half-granny shawl, will be going to the holiday fair tomorrow. We're praying for nice weather and a very busy day at the fair to bring in some much needed funds for our great school.

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Increasing in Broomstick Lace Video Tutorial

A video on the basics of Broomstick Lace and another on decreasing in Broomstick Lace have already been shown here at Hooked On Needles. So today I'll show you a little video on increasing in Broomstick Lace and you should be all set to try whipping something up using this fun stitch.

Here's the video...




I'm working on a Broomstick Lace project right now that I will share with you when it's finished. It's working up pretty quickly so it shouldn't be long!

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Decreasing in Broomstick Lace Video Tutorial

Broomstick Lace can be used to make a variety of items such as vests, scarves, blankets, sweaters, hats...patterns are available free on the internet or in books and pamphlets where you buy your yarn and needles.

Recently I offered a video tutorial on the basics of crocheting Broomstick Lace which you can find by clicking HERE. Today I have a short video showing how to decrease in Broomstick Lace. Take a look and see how easy it is...




Decreasing in Broomstick Lace might be necessary when making something that requires shaping such as a sweater or vest, or a shawl that would be made in a triangular shape.

Soon I'll be sharing a video on how to increase in Broomstick Lace too, so stay tuned for that.

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Broomstick Lace Video Tutorial

Here's an oldie, but a goody, for you crocheters out there...Broomstick Lace! This method of crochet got its name because back in the day a broomstick would have been used to hold the large loops on the loop row. These days there are so many different sizes of large knitting needles made of so many different materials that it really is not necessary to use something as large as an actual broomstick, unless of course you are making something extremely wide such as an afghan.

To work Broomstick Lace, you will need a large knitting needle such as the size 19 which I use in my video below, whatever yarn you want to use, and a crochet hook in a size to match the yarn you are using. You can use a smaller knitting needle or a bigger one, or a sanded wooden dowel or broomstick, or anything that gives you the size loops you want for your piece and won't snag your yarn.


In this sample piece, I have shown what Broomstick Lace looks like when it is worked with five loops, three loops, through both loops of the previous row stitches, through the back loop of the previous row stitches, and combined with other stitches such as double crochet.

Starting from the bottom of the picture, the first row is worked using half double crochet in groupings of five loops. The next row up was worked by pulling the large loops through both loops of the previous row half double crochet stitches resulting in no horizontal line between the two rows. The third row up was worked by pulling the large loops through only the back loops of the previous row half double crochet stitches resulting in the horizontal line between the two rows. The fourth row from the bottom was worked by stitching through five loops for the first and last sections and three loops for the sections in the middle resulting in the same overall stitch count, but having more sections on the row. After two rows like this, I added in two rows of double crochet, chain 1, then worked one last row of Broomstick Lace.

Broomstick Lace is always worked from the front, so you never turn your work. It is similar to Tunisian Crochet in this way. There are two parts to a row of Broomstick Lace, the loop row where you pick up a loop in each stitch and put it onto your knitting needle or broomstick, and then the crochet row where you work the same number of crochet stitches into a group of loops as the number of loops you pick up. You can work single, half double, double crochet or any type of crochet stitch on the crochet row, depending on the look you want to achieve. You can also pick up any number of loops for each section as long as you work the same number of stitches into each section as the number of loops you pick up.

If you've never tried Broomstick Lace, this all may seem very confusing, so here is a video demonstrating the basics of Broomstick Lace so you can see how easy it really is.


Broomstick Lace would be a nice stitch to use for a scarf, shawl or wrap. It would also make a thick and cozy lap blanket. Working Broomstick Lace in finer yarns will produce a lighter fabric with a lacier look, and using heavier yarns will produce a fabric that is quite thick and warm. Try experimenting with different yarns, different size loops and using different stitches on the crochet row to see what fun results you can get.

Happy Stitching!

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How to use Clover Yo Yo Maker - Video Tutorial

There are some gadgets I can live just fine without. Then there are those gadgets that just make me happy by being mine. Know what I mean? The Clover Yo-yo Maker is one of those gadgets that just makes me happy. It's so fun and easy to use, and produces great results every time. Plus it takes up practically no space at all and doesn't require dusting!


And here it is! Can you tell I'm smiling?


And here are two perfect little yo-yos made with my handy dandy little yo-yo maker!

I received a comment from Pat (no-reply) on my Biscornu video tutorial asking if I could make a tutorial for using the yo-yo maker, so here it is. The one thing I failed to mention in the video is that when you put your fabric down on the plate, you need to place it with the right side down. If you look closely in the video, you would be able to see that, but I just wanted to make that clear for anyone using this gadget for the first time.




Now that you see just how easy a yo-yo can be, go get yourself one of these handy dandy little gadgets and let the yo-yo making begin!

Happy Stitching!

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