During a recent clean-up, my sister came across a hand-embroidered shoulder dust cover our grandmother had made for our mother. I think that officially qualifies as “very vintage’!” We both thought it was not only beautiful, but a great idea. We all have special clothing in our closet we may not wear very often, but certainly don’t want to give away. A whole garment bag seems like overkill if you need easy access to the outfit, yet you’d still would like to protect it between wearings. Our Vintage Shoulder Dust Cover is just right to keep dust and debris from settling along the shoulders of your special garments. Thanks, Grandma! I always knew you were super cool and ahead of your time.

We originally used Delighted by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs and London by Dena Designs for FreeSpirit Fabrics. Both of these are older collections, which are no longer readily available. No worries, every season brings a new crop of beautiful quilting cotton collections from which to choose.

Our dust covers finish at approximately 21″ wide x 10½” high (the highest point in the center) to slip over a standard closet hanger.

Sewing Tools You Need

Sewing machine and standard presser foot

Fabric and Other Supplies

NOTE: Ingredients and instructions shown below are for ONE dust cover

• 1 yard of 44″+ wide quilting weight fabric for the exterior: we used a pretty print
  NOTE: You might be able to get away with ¾ of a yard, but a full yard will allow you more flexibility for fussy cutting.
• ¾ yard of 44″+ wide coordinating quilting weight fabric for the lining; we used a solid color
• 2 yards of ½” coordinating ribbon; we used velvet 
• All purpose thread to match fabric and ribbon
• See-through ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Straight pins
• Hand sewing needle

Getting Started

1. Download and print the FOUR pattern pieces required.
   
   IMPORTANT: This pattern bundle consists of FOUR 8½” x 11″ sheets, which have been bundled into one PDF to make the download easier. You must print the PDF file at 100%. DO NOT SCALE OR SHRINK to fit the page. There is a guide rule on each sheet to confirm your printout is to scale.
2. Butt together the pattern pieces as shown on the drawing on the templates to make one pattern piece. Do NOT overlap. Tape in place. This creates one half of the pattern, which is designed to be cut on the fold of the fabric.
   NOTE: If it is easier for you or if you have chosen a design that requires very precise fussy cutting, you can print out, cut and assemble a second set of pieces in order to create one full pattern. You’ll need to flip this second set wrong side up to complete the full paper pattern.
3. Using your pattern, fussy cut TWO pieces from the main exterior fabric and cut TWO pieces from the lining fabric.
4. On all the pieces, snip into the seam allowance, through all the layers, at the marking dot shown on the pattern. Remember to make a snip on both sides of the center fold on each piece.
   

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

1. Press all your cut pieces so they are nice and flat.
2. Place one lining piece right sides together with each exterior piece. Pin together along the long, straight bottom edge.
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch both pairs together along the long, straight bottom edge. Press the seam allowance towards the lining on each pair.
   
4. Flip up the lining so the pieces are now wrong sides together. Roll the lining slightly until the exterior fabric just peeks out along the seamed edge. Press well.
   
5. This will insure that only the exterior fabric shows along the bottom of the dust cover.
   
6. Open back out both seamed pairs so they are flat. Place the flat pairs right sides together, exterior to exterior and lining to lining, and with the seams precisely aligned.
7. On each side, pin and then stitch, using a ½” seam allowance, from the snip on the lining side to the snip on the print side, leaving the space between the snips open.
   
8. Clip the corners, being careful to not cut through your seam. If you are new to this technique, clipping a curved seam allows it to stretch slightly so when you turn the piece right side out you have a smooth finished curve. Find out more about in our Curves Tutorial.
   
9. Carefully pull the cover right side out through the opening in the lining.
   
10. You now have a “bag” with a small opening on both the exterior side and the lining side.
    
11. Press under the raw edges of both the openings so they are flush with the sewn seams.
12. Push the lining up inside the exterior (the layers are now wrong sides together) and align the two openings. Re-press if need be to make sure the folded edges match up nicely.
    
13. Topstitch the exterior and lining together through all the layers, staying as close to the fold as possible, along both sides of the opening. Then stitch forward and backward across each end of the opening to secure it, about three to four stitches should be enough. It’s like you are making a big buttonhole.
    
14. Use the nose of your ironing board or a pressing ham to get a nice flat press all around the bottom edge.
    NOTE: Don’t worry about the lining being 100% flat at the top of the dust cover, just keep the bottom edge smooth and even. You want to make sure the lining is not peeking out below the exterior fabric anywhere along the bottom. That would be like a slip hanging below your skirt… oh-no!
    
15. Measure up approximately 2½” from the bottom hemmed edge and draw a line with your fabric pen or pencil along both the front and the back of the dust cover.
    
16. Using this line as your guide, pin the accent ribbon in place all around the cover. Start and stop the ribbon approximately 3″ from the right side of what will be the front of your dust cover; this is where the bow will go, so you can hide your starting and ending point under the bow.
17. Topstitch the ribbon in place with a single line of stitching down the center of the ribbon.
    NOTE: With ½” ribbon, a single line of stitching is sufficient to hold it in place and is an easier seam, however, if you’d like to be extra fancy, you could use two lines of edgestitching instead along both outer edges of the ribbon.
18. Make a small bow with the leftover ribbon and hand stitch it in place over the seam of the ribbon. You could also use a small safety pin to attach the bow.
    

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Kathy Andrews, What Sew Ever