Dalmatian Pillowcases

My son is a super fan of Disney's 101 and 102  Dalmatians movies – the non-animated versions. 

I bought 5 yards of this fabric many years ago (the copyright on the selvage is 2004) intending to make curtains for his room but, well, never did, and my son has moved out now. Then the colors turned out to be perfect for a Christmas Cars quilt I was making, so I repurposed the fabric. Well, not all of it. Guilt surfaced over the dalmatian curtains that never materialized. I did, however, manage to cut out the backing such that a strip wide enough and long enough remained to make the bodies of two pillowcases instead of curtains. The way the fabric is printed allowed me to cut the longer 41" dimension that wraps around the pillow along the grain. That also meant I only needed 27" of the fabric width for the pillowcases and was able to get it without infringing on the narrow strip remaining needed to widen the quilt backing.

Picking the fabric for the border I tried various reds, blacks, and grays as I had for the Christmas Cars quilt, discussed in my previous post dated 7/21/20.  They were either too dark or so loudly red they competing with the thin delicate red bands on the dog collars. What did I want to focus on? Why, the spots of course! But polka dots, white on black, or black on white did not appeal. I wanted something more funky. Then I remembered this end of bolt fabric in my stash, of which I had 3 ⅜ yards, waiting for a backing of some sort. But really, would you back a quilt with white? So I pilfered a half yard off the yardage. I did give it a second thought suspecting it was cow spots and not dog spots. But I decided to invoke poetic/artistic license and use it anyway. I looked up the difference between canine and bovine spots and found it explained in a post from a Sammy Davis Vintage fashion blog.

... you can confuse the black & white cow print with it’s similar B&W counterpart, the dalmatian pattern. The main difference: A cow pattern has irregular shaped black spots that are various sizes scattered on a white foundation. The dalmatian pattern, on the other hand, are smooth ovals of similar size concentrated tight on a white foundation.

My chosen fabric looks like sort of a hybrid between a cow and a dalmatian. The spots were irregular, but smooth, and spaced a medium distance apart. Perhaps it can be named a "moomatian"? It may not be technically correct but I liked it paired with the dalmatian focus fabric. 

Next up fabric choice was the accent flange. Here I did choose a polka dot, but tiny and black on gray. While networking at Cooking Up Quilts MCM #184, a blogger gave me a tip that I'd like to pass on  – and blog about in a post of my own so I remember. I learned a new way of inserting the accent band from another blogger, which works very nicely and keeps that flange from from flapping around or wrinkling in the wash. In an email response to a comment I made on her blog Bonnie replied:

A friend taught me to cut the flange around 1.25”. Then line it up on the top of the case part, right sides together. Then stitch a 5/8th inch seam. Take it to the ironing board and press the flange up toward the seam. Then finish the pillowcase the normal burrito way. It makes the flange attached rather than flapping. Also, the side seams don’t get quite as big where you sew the flange edges together...or so it seems to me.

I tried the technique, really liked it, and intend to use it on pillowcases in the future. I cut my strip for these Dalmatian pillowcases to finish with a ½" wide accent: cut 2" wide, sew to main body fabric 1" from edge with flange fabric open, fold flange down in half on that seam line, and add border fabric with ½" seam. I think in the future I'd prefer the look of a wider accent and will cut the strip wider. With it fastened down at the top, a wider strip becomes more practical since there is no annoyance of it curling over. See? The top edge of flange is not loose.

Here is the finished pair of cases, shown folded in thirds lengthwise and shown on a bed. Note that I was careful to sew on the borders so the pillowcases are mirror images of each other. When on a bed the borders can drape over each edge while the focus print is right side up.

True, writing this blog took longer than making these pillowcases, but I did make a promise in my blogging to show process and not just product. Moreover I have six accomplishments:

1. Most obviously, I have two pillowcases for my son
2. I alleviated my guilt over repurposing fabric and not making curtains
3. I passed on a tip from Bonnie another blogger for improved flange attachment 
4. I became educated in the different types of fur patterns
5. I had fun writing and photographing for this post
6. I am keeping up social connection by linking up to Main Crush Monday #185 at Cooking Up Quilts