Sewing Pillowcases for Pine Ridge Reservation

For the 4-H club that Sophia and Olivia belong to (and which I am the leader), we did a community service project at December's meeting that focused on sewing pillowcases for children who live at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The children are all living in extreme poverty, so we thought that having something as simple as a handmade pillowcase might be something that they would enjoy.

All the fabric and thread for the pillowcases was donated by two families. So, the only cost to the club was members' time and the postage to ship the pillowcases to South Dakota.

We followed ConKerr Cancer's website had a tutorial about how to sew pillowcases using two different pieces of fabric.

Basically, you lay out the larger piece of fabric right side down on the table.

Then you put the smaller piece of fabric (for the edging) on top of that and roll the larger piece up until it is enclosed in the smaller piece - like a hot dog.

Sew along the edge.

Pull the larger piece out from the sewn "hot dog."

After ironing the fabric, we followed a video about how to sew French seams. This was very helpful because it is counter-intuitive to how you would sew a pillow. You actually sew on the outside of the pillowcase first by putting the WRONG sides together.

Then you flip the pillowcase so the RIGHT sides are together and sew. This process is how you hide the seams - or do French seams.

When you're done, you have a pillowcase.

The girls were happy with how their pillowcases turned out and even more so knowing that a little girl or boy would receive and use them.

I made a pillowcase too. Mine is the one on the right - the blue one with lime-green trim.

The 4-Hers (including Sophia and Olivia) and I made ten pillowcases to donate.

Seeing all the bright, colorful pillowcases makes me smile. I'm hoping it does the same for each of the children who receive one.