Wondering what to do with old sheets and pillowcases? Learn how to sew a tunic without a pattern using an upcycled pillowcase for a custom long shirt.
I’m fed up with the era of “fast fashion” and the ceaseless waste generated by a culture where today’s must-haves become tomorrow’s trash. Globally, fashion companies produce 92 million tons of textile waste every year. Sometimes, to control the massive output, they’ll actually just burn unsold garments. My quiet, one-woman protest against the hamster wheel of consumption and waste is to either wear thrifted clothes or to make my own clothing whenever I can with recycled or reused fabric. Then, at least on my little Ozark hill, no contributions are made to the wasted-fabric mountain. The best part about this whole business, aside from the sustainable thriftiness of it all, is that I’ve ended up with clothes that are bespoke and suit my own tastes – and I have a lot of fun doing it in the meantime! That’s the approach to making your own clothing that I’d like to share with you.
Modern trends fluctuate wildly, and with them fluctuate the state of our hemlines. They jump higher and higher without warning me, and it was with frustration that I faced the current style of shirts that, in my humble opinion, are far too short to be functional for an active life on a homestead. Let’s just say I don’t like feeling a breeze when I reach up to check my pigeons’ nests or down to harvest bush beans. So, I decided to continue spurning modern trends and make some nice, overly long shirts that would keep me covered no matter what position I found myself in. Here, we’ll trim a pillowcase into a soft and comfy tunic-style shirt.
Rather than start from scratch, however, I found a perfect, nearly ready-made form in a jersey-knit pillowcase. Using a shirt I liked as a template, I traced its dimensions onto the pillowcase, made a few cuts, sewed up the sides, and had a wearable, usable, and comfortable shirt within an hour. That’s the sort of “fast fashion” I can get behind!
Tools and Materials
- Lay the pillowcase flat, with the opening facing down. (Note: If you’re using a bedsheet, fold it in half. – Grit Editors)
- Place your favorite shirt over the pillowcase. Line the neckline and top of the sleeves with the top of the pillowcase.
- Trace the outline of the shirt onto the pillowcase with tailor’s chalk. Add a 1/2-inch seam allowance wherever you trace.
- If you’d like, you can extend the length of the shirt – I always continue the shirt all the way to the bottom of the pillowcase for less hemming.
- Cut out the shirt from the armpits down, then cut the neck opening as traced.
- Label the upper half of the pillowcase “back” with tailor’s chalk.
- Flip the pillowcase over, then measure how low you want the neckline to go in front. Cut about 1⁄2 inch higher than where you want your final neckline to be. This will be your seam allowance for the neckline.
- Cut the openings of the sleeves, and shear off the seam of the pillowcase.
- Sew up the new sides of the shirt. To do this, flip the two pieces inside out and carefully pin the “right” sides together. Sew the new seam, starting at the edge of one sleeve and continuing down to the bottom hem. Do the same on the other side. If desired, form a gusset on either side of the hem.
- Cuff the sleeve, pin in place, and sew shut.
- Flip the shirt right-side out.
- To finish the neckline, fold the cut edge back toward the inside of the shirt and carefully hand-stitch the hem with a blanket stitch. This will result in a rustic-looking shirt, which is exactly what we’re going for. You could also run a careful line of straight stitches with your sewing machine – just watch your fingers, as the seam won’t leave much room for them.
I hope these ideas can help any budding sewists out there take up their own needle and thread and breathe some new life into old fabric. You don’t have to be a pro to make a satisfying, sustainable, and unique garment – I’m living proof of that!
When sewing, make sure the pins don’t come in contact with the needle of the sewing machine. Pins can damage the needle of the sewing machine, and they can potentially cause the broken pieces of the needle to become airborne and hurt or blind you. Always remove your pins as you’re sewing the seam, and never sew over the pins.
For crisp seams, iron your seams after sewing them but before moving on to the next step. This will make a noticeable difference in the appearance of your finished garment.
Depending on which fabric you choose, the raw edges of your garment may need to be finished to prevent fraying and unraveling. Since jersey-knit fabric doesn’t fray, its seams can be left raw, but other types of fabric, such as quilting cotton, will likely need to be finished. If you’re using a sewing machine, you can use the zig-zag function to overlock the edges, and if you’re sewing by hand, use an overcast stitch.
– Grit Editors
Originally published as “Scrappy Sewing” in the November/December 2024 issue of GRIT magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
Wren Everett and her husband live off-grid in the Ozarks in a home they built with their own hands. They try to grow as much of their own food as possible and rediscover the old skills of self-sufficiency.