Make a Silk Pillowcase: DIY Satin Pillowcase Tutorial

Sewing a silk pillowcase is a great way to give your hair a break from the damage caused by regular cotton pillowcases.

Hey y’all, today I’m going to show you how to make a silk pillowcase. Have you had issues with hair breakage or dryness? Do you sleep hot? If so, a satin pillowcase from pure silk might be just what you need to pamper your hair while you sleep. Based on my decades of sewing experience, in this post I’ll be showing you step by step the easiest way to make a pillowcase from satin fabric.

Key Skills You’ll Practice in this Project

To sew your own silk pillow case you’ll use these skills:

• Handling silk fabric
• Choosing appropriate supplies to sew silk
• Pressing and pinning silk
• Sewing straight lines
• Sewing a French seam

Before You Get Started

Before you begin to sew a pillowcase, you’ll need to gather your materials and prepare to work with silk. Silk fabric is not as easy to sew as quilting cotton. You can prepare yourself by checking out these tips to work with silk, satin and similar fabrics.

If you’d like to practice making a pillowcase with cotton fabric, you can use this tutorial.

You’ll also want to pre-wash your silk. Contrary to common belief, silk is actually a very strong fiber. Silk charmeuse is a delicate fabric because it is woven from very thin silk fibers, not because the fibers are weak. Therefore thicker silk charmeuse or silk satin will wear better and last longer for this project.

While dry cleaning is recommended for most silk garments, I don’t recommend that for something you are going to be sleeping on like a pillow. Personally I don’t want dry cleaning chemicals on my pillow every night.

Yes, washing your silk will affect the luster slightly, but you can wash your silk. Either hand wash or set your washing machine to the delicate cycle with a mild detergent. Don’t wring the fabric; you can roll it in a towel to squeeze out excess water. Hang it to air-dry. Later, when the fabric is dry press it with a warm (not hot!) iron on the wrong side to prepare it for this project. Once your pillowcase is made, wash inside out and air dry.

Materials to Sew a Silk Pillowcase

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Here are the materials you’ll need to make this luxury pillow cover:

• 1 yard of 45 inch wide silk. Look for either silk charmeuse or silk satin as descriptors if you are buying online. Thicker silk will generally last longer, while thinner silk is generally less expensive, so keep that in mind as you are shopping. If you are buying somewhere besides the sources I’ve listed below, you might want to get a couple extra inches so that you can make sure the ends are cut on grain.
• A new size 70/10 microtex sharp needle (affiliate link) Using a new needle makes it less likely that the needle has any burrs that could snag the fabric.
• Fine width pins (affiliate link). These are thinner than regular sewing pins, as you can see in the image below. I use these pins for pretty much all my pinning, I just prefer the thinner wire.
• Sewing machine and basic notions, including thread (I use all purpose thread for these)
• Ironing board and iron

Where to Buy Silk Fabric

I’ve bought my silk fabric from Dharma Trading Co. They have thinner and thicker weights of silk charmeuse. I purchased there because I’ve been buying dye supplies on their site for years and been very happy with the products and customer service, so when I started looking for silk it seemed like a good idea to get it there. However, they don’t have a ton of colors.

Silk Baron is another site with more color options than Dharma. They carry all kinds of silk, but for this project take a look at their silk charmeuse or splurge on their silk satin. I have not personally ordered from them yet, but one of my good in person sewing friends has and vouched for them and I trust her. I also emailed them a question during business hours and got a reply within 10 minutes, so I can personally say they had speedy customer service.

You might wonder what’s the difference between silk charmeuse and silk satin? First, I’ll remind you of this discussion of fiber vs construction. Silk is a fiber. It is protein based as it comes from silk worms. Satin is a specific weave that is shiny and lustrous on one side and duller on the other. Charmeuse is a type of lightweight satin generally made from silk fiber. However, recently I have seen other fibers in fabrics labeled as charmeuse, so don’t assume it’s 100% silk without checking the fiber content.

What about mulberry silk? Mulberry silk is a term that refers to silk made from silkworms fed only mulberry leaves. It came about to help consumers differentiate fabric made from silk fibers vs satins made from other (usually synthetic) fibers.

Make a Satin Pillowcase – Video Tutorial

I’ve got a short video below showing how to make a silk pillowcase, which you can also watch on YouTube here if it won’t load for some reason.

Step-by-step Tutorial Instructions to Make a Silk Pillowcase

Here are the steps to sew a satin pillowcase. This makes a pillowcase with finished measurements of 20 inches by 31 inches.

1. Cut your fabric to 36 inches by 42 inches.
   • Pro tip: make sure to check that two edges of your fabric are square on the grainline before measuring and cutting from those edges. Learn more about grainline here.
2. Press the raw edge of one of the 42 inch sides 1/2 inches to the wrong side
   • Pro tip: make sure you’re using a dry iron on a low/medium heat setting
3. Fold the same edge again 4 inches to the wrong side and press again, then pin as a deep hem.
   • Pro tip: you can mark a piece of card stock with these measurements and use it as a pressing guide
4. Stitch near the inner edge to create the hem of the pillowcase.
   • Pro tip: before stitching, make certain the 4″ hem is precise at each edge. Also make sure your bobbin thread matches your fabric since it will show.
5. Fold your fabric WRONG sides together. Match the raw edges and pin them. Also match the stitching of your hem. Stitch around the raw edges, using a 1/8 inch seam allowance.
   • Pro tip: If you can move your needle, move it all the way to the right so you can have as much fabric as possible under the presser foot and over the feed dogs while still stitching a narrow seam.
6. Turn your pillowcase wrong side out. Press the seams flat.
7. Stitch the seams again, but this time use a 3/8 inch seam allowance. This creates the French seams, which is a stronger finish that prevents the raw edges of the fabric from fraying. Backstitch at the opening of the pillowcase.
8. Trim your threads and insert your pillow!

Avoid These Problems

Here are some ways to avoid problems while sewing your silk pillow case:

• If your fabric is slipping or not feeding evenly, increase your presser foot pressure
• Consider decreasing your stitch length. Smaller stitches on a tight weave fabric like satin can work better.
• Don’t wet your silk when pressing it with the iron as that can cause water stains. Instead use a dry iron and a lower temperature

Silk Pillowcase FAQs

• Is it cheaper to make your own silk pillowcase?
  • If you don’t count the cost of your sewing machine and notions, it can be. A yard of silk ranges from $13-$50 depending on thickness and where you purchase it. So if you already have basic sewing supplies and you shop around for your silk, it can be cheaper to make your own. This is also why I like to sew silk pillowcases as gifts.
• How much fabric do I need for a silk pillowcase?
  • For a standard pillow size like I used in this post, 1 yard of 45 inch wide silk is all you need, and you’ll have 3 inches left over that you can use to make scrunchies or headbands.
• Are silk pillowcases really worth it?
  • Silk fiber regulates temperature better, absorbs less moisture, and the satin weave is smoother than cotton. So if your hair is prone to breakage or dryness or if you tend to sleep hot, a silk pillowcase is really nice. While you can buy cheap polyester satin pillowcases, likely for less than it would cost to buy silk fabric, polyester tends to be hotter and not breathable like silk. This is because polyester is a synthetic fiber. In general I personally prefer natural fibers.

In Conclusion

Silk pillowcases have benefits for your hair, especially if it is prone to dryness or breakage. Making your own silk pillowcase isn’t hard and it can be cheaper than buying one if you already sew.