A Zipper Project

The pillows on our living room couches are really gross. Since we allow our dogs on the couches (its really just not worth trying to keep them off), they like to take naps with their heads on the pillows. Yes, they think they are people, and I would be lying to you if I tried to act like its not really cute when they do that. The downside is that the pillows are just dirty and have all kinds of fun doggy slobber on them. I can't just throw a whole pillow in the washer, so I decided that I would make removable pillow covers so that I can take them off periodically and wash them. Sounded like a great idea to me, I mean, how hard can it be to sew a little invisible zipper into the side of a pillowcase? I even found a great you-tube tutorial to follow where these ladies made it look like a breeze. Well, let me tell you, its a really frustrating process. Maybe I had a harder time because I was using invisible zippers. Those little boogers are tricky to pin down, and hard to sew straight without getting the thread all tangled up in the little zipper teeth. Plus you have to double-sew them because you pin them down, then baste them by hand, then go back with the machine right along the edge to really secure the zipper. Thank goodness someone invented seam rippers because I used my about 50 times during this project.

Here's some before and after picutres, I wanted to keep the colors the same, so I just found fabric that was the same color, but had a subtle pattern to keep it interesting.

What they looked like before; I had 1 red, 2 brown, and 2 green

Close-up of the zipper- that looks pretty invisible to me!

The same three pillows with the new cases

Close-up of the fabric so you can see the patterns better :)

I am really happy with how they turned out, but I think next time I am using snaps or buttons!