How to make a Quilt and Matching Pillowcases

Coordinating accessories can be made for any quilt, but the Diamond Twist Quilt Pattern has fabric included in the quilt pattern to make a quilt and matching pillowcases.

These pillow cases come directly from the scraps of the original pattern!  It doesn’t get any easier than that!

Now, I am not going to give you cutting dimensions for the fabric, because that is part of the pattern.  You need the quilt pattern for that information.

What I am going to do with this tutorial is show you how to plan ahead so that you don’t have to sew those triangle scraps on the bias (because I sure don’t want to do that and can’t imagine any other quilts do either!) and how to make these pillowcases that match the quilt. 

These quilted pillowcases use lots of Half Square Triangle units. I am going to abbreviate them as HSTs throughout this tutorial because making a quilt and matching pillow cases is fantastic but typing out Half Square Triangles over and over is not fantastic.

Making HST

You can make your HSTs individually as well, so you can definitely make these pillowcases without the original pattern too.

The quilt pattern has you making units by drawing a line from corner to corner and sewing right on the line.

If you also draw a line ½” to the right of the first line, you can also sew directly on the line, and then cut the pieces apart right in the middle of the two lines, which will leave you with ¼” seam allowance on each side.

That gives you the pieces need to make the quilt pattern. Bonus: the HSTs that are already sewn together without having to sew little, bitty pieces on the bias.

Follow the quilt pattern instructions for the main pieces and trim the HSTs down to 2½” squares.

How Many HSTs to Make?

How many HSTs do you need?

Well, that depends on a couple of things.

First of all, the size of quilt you make is going to determine how many HSTs you end up with.  Each block of the quilt produces 8 HSTs.

This version of the quilt is 16 blocks, so I have a total of 128 HSTs to work with.

I decided to make a quilt and matching pillowcases to fit 12” pillow forms.  Since the HSTs are trimmed to 2½”, they finish at 2” in the quilted pillow case.  That’s a 6 by 6 grid, 36 HSTs per pillow case.

You could turn 100 HSTs into a 10 by 10 layout, and then your pillowcase would measure 20” by 20”. 

Lots of options.

Pillowcase Fronts

Your pillowcase front is going to go together in much the same way as a quilt top.

Lay out 6 rows of 6 HSTs.  This is one layout, but I’ve got plenty of others to share too.

I decided I wanted to change to a diamond that radiated outwards and adjusted my HSTs accordingly.  Then, I decided I liked it, but wanted to move the diamond up a little bit, and change a few color combos for others.

Once you’ve got the layout you like, sew squares into pairs, making sure to alternate directions when sewing AND when pressing.

Continue alternating sewing and pressing directions when sewing the pairs into the rows and the rows into the pillow front.

I made an additional pillow front with more HSTs from the same quilt and again played around with the layout before deciding on zig zags.

I used all of the same steps as before to alternate directions for sewing and pressing to make the second pillow front.

Quilting the Pillow Fronts

At this point you’ve got two pillow fronts masquerading as quilt blocks and it’s time for some “batting” and backing. 

I used muslin as my batting, because the pillows will be fluffy enough without actual batting.  Since my pillowcases are going to fit 12” pillow forms, a fat quarter will be enough to back one, if your pillows are much larger, you will need more fabric for batting.

My backings (the peach and yellow prints in the photo above) are also fat quarters.  Again, if you are making a larger pillow case, you might need more fabric for this part.

Total Supplies Needed (per each pillowcase)

1 Pillowcase Front

Fabric for Pillowcase Back (1 Fat Quarter will work for a 12” pillow form but more may be needed for larger pillows)

Muslin (2 Fat Quarters will work for 12” pillow form but more may be needed for larger pillows)

Glue and Foam Brush (optional – baste however you prefer)

Cut a piece of muslin that is 1” larger than your flimsy and baste the pillowcase front to the muslin.  I like glue basting, but you can baste however you like.

Quilt as desired.  I recommend more quilting per square inch than you would use for a quilt.  Because the finished product (pillow form inside the pillowcase in use on couch or bed) is more 3-Dimensional than a flat-lying quilt, there will be a little added stress on the seams and the additional quilting will prevent fraying.

Trim the excess muslin from the sides.

Making the Pillowcase Backings – Pocket Folds

The back of the pillowcases are actually double backings.  There is an inner, muslin, layer and an outer, pretty fabric, layer.

Start by cutting the fat quarter of backing fabric to a piece that is 12½” by 20”.  Remember, these measurements are specific to use with a 12” pillow form.  More fabric is needed for other sizes.

Then, make a second cut through the middle, so that both pieces of the backing measure 10” by 12½”.  This picture shows both the yellow and the peach background, because I’m making two pillowcases. 

Make the same cuts with the muslin.

{Photo 18}

On all cuts of fabric, fold the edge back ¼” to ½” along the 12½” side.  Press it into place.  Fold it a second time and again, press it into place.

Top stitch right along the inner edge of the fold. 

Repeat all of these steps with the muslin as well.

With right sides DOWN, place the two pieces of backing fabric overlapping the folded edges so that the whole piece is 12½” square.  You can see in this photo about how much overlap there is, it’s not an insignificant amount.

It does not matter if your left piece overlaps your right, or if your right piece overlaps your left.  But whichever side overlaps, you are going to overlap your muslin pieces in the same manner.  Right side facing down, directly on top of the backing pieces, and the whole thing will measure 12½” square.

Pin in place.  I highly recommend a quick stitch around all 4 sides, 1/8” from the edges to tack all these pieces together.  However, that’s not required and just pinning is sufficient. 

Layer the pillowcase front and the backing together, right sides together. 

Lots of Layers = Lots of Pins

Pin everything in place. There are a lot of layers to be sewn in each seam! Then, use a ¼” seam allowance to sew around all four sides.

Trim the threads and turn the pillowcase right side out and that is a completed quilt and matching pillowcases!  The muslin layer opening is slightly offset from the backing layer opening, this helps keep the pillow form cleaner and last longer.

I backed the baby quilt in peach flannel, so even my pillowcase and quilt backs match, in addition to the pillowcase fronts coming from the leftovers of the quilt pattern.

And, some more photos of the quilt these pillowcases came from!