and why not?

Duvet covers, sheets, pillowcases, etc are all things I LOVE. I don't know why I'm so into linens, but it's noticeable enough that my husband just sort of laughs. It must be the large pieces of fabric that I can change out at will and which often have high color or pattern impact on a space. It's a thing, it doesn't have to make sense. 

At any rate, these items I love so much have always seemed to me to be the kind of thing you buy. I never really considered making them before. But a while ago I bought myself some fat quarters of fabric I really liked (the Floressence prints here, as well as some LillyBelle) and I decided I was going to make pillowcases out of them. Why? Why not. Pillowcases are useful! I use one every day. Also, it is a way to not have to cut up those lovely large scale feature prints that I seem to be drawn to. These florals are especially lovely and would have been so sad to cut up into little pieces. 

After looking at my favorites on Flickr, it seems that I'm drawn to unusual combinations of many prints. Soooo I took two fat quarters of Floressence meadow aroma print and set to finding some quirky prints to partner them with.  I used a tutorial I found some time ago at Cottage Mama to make banded cases with french seams. One modification I made was to use two fat quarters sewn together instead of 3/4 yard of the fabric for the main part of the pillowcase. Therefore, my pillowcases are not quite as big as those in the tutorial, but they fit my pillows just fine. 

The backs of the pillows are "calmer" prints that I can flip up when I'm not feeling so floral, a light gray curio on one and a light purple calico vine on the other. These two pillowcases are destined to brighten up my studio apartment in Sacramento that I have moved into this last weekend. (Hopefully by the time this post is up they'll be happily hanging out on the bed!) Something about these makes me feel like I'm spoiling myself a little bit... custom made pillowcases, ooooh! And why not?