DIY King Pillowcases to Standard or Queen

I have a king size bed, but I prefer queen size and full size pillows. That became a problem when I recently bought a king size sheet set which contained king size pillowcases. King pillowcases can be transformed to queen or standard size by following my directions and photos in this easy to sew project.

When I got home and took the sheets and pillowcases out of the package, I was amazed at how long the pillowcases looked! At first, I thought about cutting off the hemmed edge and re-hemming, but that sounded too time consuming. Folding the ends of the pillow cases over the pillows looked sloppy, so that was out. I put them away in a drawer, and then later the solution "popped" into my head: Cut off the seamed end! This method saved a lot of time, and the result looks professional!

King Pillowcase, before

Turn the king pillowcase to the wrong side. 

Look through your pillowcases, and find a pillowcase the size you want to end up with. I have found that not all pillowcases are created equal and vary in size!

Lay the smaller pillowcase on top, matching the hemmed ends.

Lay a yardstick along the seam end of the smaller pillowcase. Use chalk to draw a line along the yardstick on the king pillowcase. This line will become the stitching line.

Pin along the chalked stitching line.

Cut off the end of the pillowcase about 3/8" from the chalked line.

Using a 3/8" seam, sew across the pillowcase on the stitching line. Back-stitch at the beginning and ending of the seam to secure.

Finish the seam with a zigzag stitch, or serge the seam. 

Turn the pillowcase to the right side, and you are done! Pressing is optional. Repeat with the other pillowcase. 

This was a really quick project, and I am pleased with how it turned out!

Now what will I do with those 2 pillowcase ends that I cut off? Another day, another blog post!

Sweet dreams!

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