Crochet Edged Pillowcases

I have been wanting to dress up my white linens with some form of lace edging.  While waiting for white yarn to arrive, I got itchy to edge something so I did a test run on some vintage pillowcases I was given.

I love the results, and here's how I did it:

Using sport weight cotton/acrylic blend yarn and a 3.5mm hook, I did a blanket stitch edging all around the pillowcase.  My stitches are placed 5/8ths of an inch apart in width, and 3/8ths of an inch from the edge.  You may want to mark off where your stitches will go if you don't have a good eye for placing them precisely.

Using the horizontal thread section of your blanket stitch, crochet the edging of your choice. I improvised here, and went for a zigzag look, and how I did that was to slip one stitch, triple crochet, then double crochet in each section, and repeat until the end.

This is another pattern I considered, and it is formed with one slip stitch, then three double crochet in each section, and repeat until the end.

You can do this with different weights of yarn and patterns, but bear in mind that you will have to change the length of your blanket stitch based on your design.

Here is a shell pattern done on blanket stitch with 7/8ths of an inch between the vertical stitches.  This shell stitch was done with one slip stitch,and four double crochet in each section, then repeat to the end.  

If you have never crocheted before and feel as though it may be too challenging, I encourage you to have a look at some tutorials for each stitch I have used. I promise you, this is a beginners project, and easy to do.