Chevron Stripe Crocheted Pillowcase Tutorial

My super cute and thoroughly modern niece recently got married (Yes. Yes, I did make the cake). Before the wedding we had a bridal shower for her and my gift to her was a set of chevron stripe crocheted pillowcases.

I LOVE pillowcases with a hand crocheted edge. The pair of simple crocheted and embroidered pillowcases I inherited from my Grandmother Mangum are on my bed and they are a treasure I get to enjoy every day.

My grandmothers pillowcases are crocheted on a hemstitched edge.

There are basically five ways to attach a crocheted edge to a pillowcase: 

(1) Crochet your lace and sew it on afterwards. (not recommended)

Crocheting your lace independently of your pillowcase works for lace patterns only if you know the exact gauge length of your lace pattern. You'll have to completely start over if you didn't plan enough beginning chain stitches. Not fun.

Hemstitch edge on hemstitch pillowcases

(2) Have a hemstitch edge sewn on your pillowcase.

This produces a lovely finished edge of holes to your pillowcase and makes it very easy to crochet your lace directly on the pillowcase, but you'll need to find someone who has a hemstitching machine and send it out to them.
(Or, find out if your sewing machine is compatible, buy a hemstitch needle and try to hemstitch it yourself. Score!)

(3) Sew a blanket stitch edge onto your pillowcase and then crochet your lace onto this foundation.

This is an very quick and easy option. Go see these cute pillowcases inspired by this link. You can use matching embroidery thread or your crochet thread for the blanket stitch.

(4) Use the Skip-Stitch^® Blade.

This rotary blade attaches to a standard 45mm rotary cutter and makes small perforated holes evenly spaced across your fabric. This quickly takes the place of poking your fabric with a needle or awl, but the blade will cut the material of your pillowcase. I have personally never used this rotary blade for high quality cotton pillowcases. I know that it works great on fleece or flannel blankets.

I used a sharp needle to make a hole in the edge of the pillowcase and then did 3 chain stitches between each single crochet into the holes.

(5) Use a sharp, fat needle or awl to poke measured holes across the edge of your pillowcase. Single crochet into the hole and use chain stitches to connect to the next hole for a foundation edge.
This is the way I've always done it, but this method is time consuming and is kind of awkward and I often pull the fibers of the pillowcase fabric as I'm poking the crochet needle into the hole. This is the way women have been crocheting edge lace for centuries

Recently, I was fortunate enough to find a woman who has a hemstitching machine and she charged me a very reasonable price to hemstitch the edge of my pillowcases. Yay! If you'd like her contact information, please email me at alipyper(at)gmail(dot)com and I will tell you how to get in contact with her.

Okay. So once you have a foundation row embroidered or single crocheted onto your pillowcase edge, you can start crocheting the chevron stripe. I've used #10 bedspread weight crochet thread and a US 7 (1.65 mm) crochet hook. Adjust hook size to obtain gauge.

Gauge: This chevron pattern has a 1-5/8" (43 mm) repeat. Most standard pillowcases are 21" x 32" (53 x 81 cm). You might need to make one or two pattern repeats slightly longer or shorter depending on the size of your pillowcase. This is super easy to do!

USA Crochet Terms:
MC: main color (I suggest using the same color as your pillowcase)
CC: contrasting color
st(s): stitch(es)
ch: chain stitch
sc: single crochet
hdc: half double crochet
dc: double crochet
htr: half treble crochet (yarn over twice. insert hook into desired stitch. draw yarn through stitch. yarn over and draw through two loops. yarn over and draw through last three loops)
tr: treble crochet
hdtr: half double treble crochet (yarn over three times. insert hook into desired stitch. draw yarn through stitch. yarn over and draw through two loops. yarn over and draw through two loops. yarn over and draw through last three loops)
dtr: double treble crochet
triple dc dec: triple dc decrease. [yarn over. insert hook in next st. draw yarn through st. yarn over and pull through two loops (leaving two loops on hook). yarn over and insert hook in next st. draw yarn through st. yarn over and pull through two loops (leaving three loops on hook). yarn over and insert hook in next st. draw yarn through st. yarn over and draw through two loops (leaving four loops on hook). yarn over and draw through last four loops on hook]

Pattern:
Row 1: With MC, ch 4. [1 dtr, 1 hdtr] in same st. 1 tr in next st. 1 htr in next st. 1 dc in next 2 sts. 1 hdc in next st, 1 sc in next st, *1 hdc in next st, 1 dc in next 2 sts, 1 htr in next st, 1 tr in next st, [ 1 hdtr, 1 dtr, 1 hdtr] in next stitch, 1 tr in next st. 1 htr in next st. 1 dc in next 2 sts. 1 hdc in next st, 1 sc in next st*, repeat pattern from * to * until last five sts. 1 hdc in next st. 1 dc in  next 2 sts. 1 htr in next st. 1 tr in next st. Change to cc and join with a sl st to beginning ch.

(Note: If you need to increase or decrease the length of the chevron repeat in order for it to fit nicely on your pillowcase, add or eliminate double crochets in the highlighted portion of the pattern. On the next contrasting color row, similarly add or eliminate double crochets to match the pattern.

triple dc decrease

Row 2: With CC, ch 3. *3 dc in next st. 1 dc in next 5 sts. 1 triple dc dec. 1 dc in next 5 sts.* Repeat from * to * until last four sts. 1 dc last four sts. Join to beginning ch, knot, cut thread and weave in ends.

(Note: Make sure that your are crocheting 3 dc in the dtr, and crocheting the triple dc dec across the hdc, sc, and hdc stitches.)

If you'd like to add additional colors onto the edge, just repeat row 2 (without knotting, cutting or weaving in ends) with a new color.

It's fun to have a simple, yet modern crochet pattern to add a little love to your pillowcases. If you have problems with the pattern or need help, let me know! alipyper(at)gmail(dot)com

Click here for an easy to print pattern

Enjoy!