My mother-in-law bought this butterfly and flower shower curtain a while ago for her house.  She decided it didn’t work in her bathroom, so she asked if I wanted it.  I said of course.  I knew it wouldn’t work in my bathroom for two reasons.  First, I have a shower stall, and second I am very committed to my sand and shell décor.   We do have another full bathroom, but its the one that Bob primarily uses, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t want it to be so feminine.  So, I decided to get creative and turned the shower curtain into pillow cases.

I thought that the color of the curtain might look good in my craft room.  I had decorated it very neutral, but now I was ready for some color.  I already had an abundance of white pillows.

In my stash of supplies, I also had two larger pillows – 24 x 24. I had bought them on clearance at Jo-Ann Fabrics for $9.97 and was just saving them for when I found the right spot.

I’m not the best seamstress.  I love that I can sew, but it also drives me crazy.  I don’t have much patience, so I will find anyway I can to save some steps, and some fighting with my sewing machine.  The shower curtain provided some key steps already done.  I could use the nice hems to my advantage.  I planned out the pillow cases, so that none of my seams would be visible.  I cut the fabric out with the dimensions of 24 x 54, so that I could make a simple envelope pillow case.  After I cut it out, I ironed the fabric…another step that tries my patience. 🙂  I folded over the one short end and ironed it to make it easier to sew.

After I sewed that one end, I was ready to prep the fabric for my two other straight seams.

I flipped the fabric over, so the right sides were in.  Then, I folded the fabric to overlap, so that it formed the 24 x 24 square, and had a few inches overlap to make the envelope.  I kept the original seam underneath, so that it would be the visible seam one I flipped the pillow case right side out.

This is the only point that I used pins.  I wanted to make sure that I kept the correct dimensions, so I pinned each side.

I sewed straight (well straight enough for me) up each side.  And, that was all it took.  I flipped the pillow case right side out and was done.  I made two pillow cases from the shower curtain and still have some fabric left over.

I flipped the comforter over too, so that it is just plain white so that the pattern doesn’t compete with the new pillows.  I really like the extra bit of color in the room.  So much so, that it motivated me to redecorate.  I pulled out more butterfly décor from my stash, and made some other new artwork.  I’ll share the full craft room with its new look later this week.

Anyone else ever use a shower curtain for another purpose?  Any other shower curtain to pillow case projects?