Pot holder tutorial

Here is my tutorial on recycling jeans into a potholder.

I find a finished size of about 8 inches by 7 is about right but it can be 7 by 6.5inches or whatever you like.

Find an old pair of jeans, and cut the leg out measure out an piece 17 inches by 7.5 inches if you have it or you can cut two pieces 8.5 inches by 7.5 inches each. Then I did some machine embroidery or you can hand embroidery or iron on a patch or leave in plain. (the design I used is from Embroidery library).



Here I just made sure there was enough when I folded it in half, then I trimmed it up.


You can see here that the finished size is just a little smaller, and thicker.


Next I press down one side just over 1/4 inch. this will be the side we use to turn it through.


This is what you will have; the left side is just folded over so will not need to sew that one and the right side has the edges turned in and pressed.



Next we cut a piece of Insul-Bright Insulation you NEED this stuff if you are really going to use these pot holders, it keeps the heat from getting to your hands. I used a layer of this and then also used a layer of old cloth you can use a dishtowel or old bath towel but you must also use the InsulBright just the dishcloth alone is not enough and I would not want you to get burned. Also just a note do not use a potholder if it is wet!! the heat from a hot pan will go right through it and burn you (yeah I learned that the hard way).

Turn right sides together and place old dish cloth and InsulBright down.

You will notice that I did not put the InsulBright and towel up against the fold, I found that if you did you get a lump in your finished project.



Next pin it together so you will not have shifting and using a walking foot sew the top and bottom sides.



I used dark thread so you can see it here, then trim the InsulBright and towel as close as you can to the stitching and trim the corners, but NOT the two corner where you have left the opening for turning.
Turn right side out.



I place a folded piece of twill at the top right of the pot holder to make a loop.



Then stitch around all four side and your finished.

Just a note here, when using hot pans and pot holders you have to be smart; remember safety first, use good judgement and if it is starting to feel warm put it down!! You can always use two pot holders at a time if it is a hot and heavy pan you are lifting. I am giving directions for pot holders I make and use myself but can not be responsible for burns and misuse of pot holder.

Book tote

As you remember I made a tote bag for my husband see post from May 22, 2008. I really liked it, just loved all the pockets. So I made one for myself, using home decor fabric it was a bit thick to sew through but it worked out fine. I used the same book as the earlier mentioned post but I squared the bottom so it would sit up.

I get more done with a plan!

Last night I sketched out a couple of things I wanted to do, the first was an apron (what else? ha) I used a pattern from a sweet gal here is where you can find it. I didn't have enough fabric to make the great pleat at the bottom or to make the waist and ties to match so I mixed and matched.

Then.......

So this is my little potholder, I did some machine embroidery and put the insulate in and just stitched it up.

Tote bag

I enjoy making things for my family but they don't often need me too.. but my husband commented that since I have gone to fabric bags for shopping there are no bags for him to take things to work in.... well of course I got right on it :) I knew I needed a 'guy' fabric then a simple bag so I used the pattern from the book simple gifts to stitch by Jocelyn Worrall.

Give away of goodies that could make a great apron.

There is a give away over at Glad Tidings Primitives & Folkeart . I thought I would mention it here in case anyone would like a chance to have some unique fabrics, buttons, and other goodies that would make a great apron.

Check out my Slide Show!

Making a pincushion.

Today is Saturday, and my daughter and I spent the morning taking down wallpaper in a bathroom. Ok so I get that some people like wallpaper and if I had never taken it down before I guess I would too... but this is the second room in this house I have taken down wallpaper from and all I can say is why do people decide to put some thing other than just the paste down? There is like this yellow crackly glue ...sigh.... ok so after that I really wanted to sew or make something, I have an idea for an apron...... The reality is I am just too tired to really do a good job so I started looking at some of my saved link and found this fun pincushion and was able to just whip it up and fun and easy :) I think I will go and make a few more but I wanted to share in case someone out there wanted a fast fun small project.

I just picked up some scraps I had and put them together I used this tutorial, I didn't measure just 'eye balled it" :)

Mother's Day

A blessed Mother's Day to all. We went to church and then home for BBQ ribs and all kinds of good eats :) My Mom was able to come down and have lunch with us it was a really nice day.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

Apron sightings

While shopping with my daughter I spotted some aprons. She laughed when I brought out my cell phone to take a picture. I told her , hey see your Mom was ahead of the trend last year when I started sewing aprons, well, that didn't help ;) So here is a picture from World Market the aprons ranged from 19.99 to 24.99 the black and white one even had a flounce!

Remember May 12th !

National (and International) Wear Your Apron Day is May 12th

The Day before Mother's Day

Today is the day before Mother's Day and I spent the day with my daughter, my grown daughter :) We went out shopping and then to lunch at Bahama Breeze, YUM ! It was good to just spend the day with her. I'm so proud and glad she is my daughter. I love you.

Proverbs 31:30

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

Thursday

Today, so much done YEAH! So I took a walk outside to get the mail and wow the flower are finally out, we've had such a rainy spring it's just so good to see flowers. Here are my pictures....

Blossoms on my apple tree!

A girl needs fancy toes :)

Fabric storage

So I have all this fabric and have tried several ways to store it, in such a way that I can SEE it. I do still have a lot of fabric in a dresser and that is nice I have it sorted by color and just open a drawer to look at all the green or black etc.... But I still have a lot of fabric and if it is just in a stack I make a mess looking through it..... soooooo... I turned a box on its side and rolled the fabric and slid it in there so I'm going to give it a try to see if it will stay in some sort of order.

Memo Board

I picked up this ribbon board kit so today I put it together here's how it went.

so I took it all out and tried to come up with how to lay it all out.

There was a lot in there to chose from, so I started with the ribbon board part of it. It was a little hard to line up but once I started I got the hang of it.

So then I put that down then attached the side paper

Added the hardware for the clip board area, and a pocket for notes. It was fun, I'm not usually to into kits but this was fun. I picked it up at JoAnn's

A ruffled apron for May

Over on The Apronista the group project for May is a Ruffled apron. I have apron patterns with ruffles but, a tutorial was mentioned and I made this apron from there.


Also I made this with my daughter in mind, she like black/white and red.