potholder tutorial

I was tweeking an old tutorial I'd written, in 2008!, and it disappeared. So I'm writing it again. :)

I like to think that I have perfected the making of potholders over the years. I have given many away and am now needing to replace the one's that have worn out.

This is the finished one.

Here is what lies beneath that pristine exterior. It was designed specifically to use up the double wide bias tape that is around the outside. I can tell it is one of my early potholders because the inside is of an old baby blanket I bought at a thrift store in 1976. It is still in good shape so I'll just cover it again.

Now I when I get a towel that is worn out I make blanks to go inside more potholders. I cut them 8.25" square cause I like big potholders.I have a stack of these ready to go.

If I need to I'll butt them together and zigzag them so make the size I want. I use 2 layers of towel in each pot holder.

First I look at my supply of double wide bias tape and decide what color the binding will be. I decided to use the blue. You can tell this has been around for awhile, it is no longer 95 cents. I think it is $2.49 now. Most would choose a color to go with their kitchen....or make a holiday one.

Step one would be to draw a line diagonally across the terry cloth. I didn't draw one because there is a seam I can follow.

Step two, choose the fabrics, I used scraps and laid them out where I will be using them. Do NOT use light colored fabrics....they get dirty too fast and look ugly soon.

Step three, sew the pieced triangle using a stitch and flip method. I start in the center;

then lay a strip on one side of the center. Pin it,

then lay a strip on the other side of the center. Pin and stitch.

 Press the strips open.

Continue sewing strips until the triangle is filled.

Notice that all the strips end well beyond the diagonal line and the outside edge.

I cut a triangle larger than I needed and pined it across where the diagonal line is. Do not stretch this when you pin it.

Then sew. Flip the large triangle over and press the seam.

Before pressing and trimming.

Lay the back onto the back of your potholder. Pin then

baste around the outside edge. I used a walking foot here.

Then trim it to 8"

Add the binding (sorry no tutorial here.) I usually do not put a loop for hanging, cause I've never used it but some may find it usefull.

and you are finished.

Here is a red one that is not quite finished but you can see the large triangle is made up of little strips.
My daughter in law took lessons and made several; you can see them here.

I have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas potholders. I keep them with the holiday decorations and pull them out seasonally.

Treadle 66

We have been looking at stationary bikes for me to exercise on. I made a comment once that I'd noticed that using Grandma's Treadle sewing machine was a leg workout....soooo we moved the treadle from the entry to the living room and put a chair in front of it.

Going to the internet I was able to discover that it was made in 1910. The model number is 66-16. It works but I am trying to figure out how to purchase the missing parts. When I got it after Grandma's death it was missing the post for the thread and missing the bobbin case cover. I have another old sewing machine that I stole the cover from and it almost fits. It is sew-able although there is a gap of 1/4" when the plate is closed as I can get it. Here are some details of this beautiful machine;

 The decal design is called 'red eye'.

The front shows the old bobbin style, I've never seen this kind of bobbin.

 Even the back is beautiful.

The bobbins with the holes were wrapped in paper with a label,'bobbins for Grandma's treadle machine'. They do not fit. The other do.

I have 2 gizmos like this...a ruffler? gatherer? The internet told me to not use any household cleaners on the body, just oil. So I've rubbed it down but it needs a bit more tender loving care. I've ordered polish for the chrome bits and am continuing to research how to take care of it. Now I'm trying to decide which project I want to make using this machine.

Getting ready to post this I called my Mother to get any information she may have about it. This machine was around her whole childhood. Since I don't think Grandma bought the machine when she was 12 we're pretty sure she bought it used.
Grandma made ALL of my Mother's clothing on it.  Mother had store bought socks. ALL of her underwear, dresses, etc, and coats were homemade. Her underclothing all had little bits of embroidery, on everything. Polly also worked full time, had a huge garden, canned their food and took care of a sick husband. 
Mother started dusting it when she was very young, probably 3. Grandma told her that her little hands could get in and dust it much better than her bigger hands. Mom dusted it until she left home. (Then I'm sure she dusted it when she visited; I know she dusted it when she came to my house.)

Quick easy baby blanket

Needed a baby gift.
The mother had chosen purple and yellow as her babies colors.....Hard to find .

 The only purple and yellow fabric I could find.

 Quick easy self binding blanket.

Here is a tutorial.
I bought 1.25 yards of each, but I didn't need as much of the purple flannel, I cut off 8 inches. It took less than an hour. I'll be doing this again.

Sewing Kit

My son is leaving soon so we put together this small sewing kit for him.

 He located the tin; I wanted to paint it, he wants it like this.

I made a small pin cushion, filled with wool batting and glued it onto the lid. The odd buttons, a wheel, an H, etc were picked out by friends as something to remind him that he is loved. I filled a bobbin with white thread and one with black. Practically all of his clothes are either black or white.We chose buttons that could replace those on his suits or his white shirts. I have a pair of tiny scissors somewhere around here... can't find it so I got that purple thing.

Its a thread cutter, there is a razor blade inside.
So what else should I include? I have 1 more day....Today I picked up his suit from the dry cleaners, found a piece of window screen (for a zipper pouch for him). I still have

• bedding to wash,
• bedding to pack, 
• pants to hem, 
• zipper pouches to make, and fill. I'm thinking a first aid kit, a nail kit, and an office kit. 
• Rx to send off
• cash to get
• a small collection of photos to take of home and family

Now I'm planning on starting his 'last dinner' at home. Homemade pasta. He loves it but it is a big project. I'll cook it tomorrow. I should do a dessert too....oh the possibilities....What should I fix?
What have I forgotten?

baby blanket #2

So last week I stayed awake one night picturing the ideal baby blanket in my head. The problem I envisioned with a lightweight summer blanket was the traditional quilt binding that I had on some of my baby blankets, it seemed to weigh them down with a heavy treatment. In my mind I took the bias tape and just inserted it in between the front and back.
The next morning I went shopping trying to make it happen. (You would think I had something that would work in my stash but I knew I did not have a bright stripe that would coordinate with 2 other fabrics that would be suitable for a boy!) Three fabric stores and 2 days later I had found them.

 Hancocks

JoAnne's

JoAnne's
The bright turquoise stripe I found was perfect except it was not 100% cotton. I decided to use it anyway since it is just on the edge and wouldn't be touching the baby much. (My babies all broke out if the did not have cotton touching their face...but THEN babies slept on their stomach and their faces touched their bedding. Today, not so much.)

Here is the front,the back and the edge.
The tricky part is making the front and back the EXACT same size. I tried. The yellow ended up a smidgeon bigger and I thought that the owls were bigger.

• The bias is cut at 3/4" (I purchased a yard since I was brain dead by the time I found something that would work and I didn't want very many seams. Seams = work. Lots left over.)
• The front and back were 1 1/4 yards each, none left over. I noticed that the cutters at JoAnne's were very careful to give me exactly what I asked for and those at Hancock's were not. So I have a small scrap of the yellow for my scrap bin.

To keep the 2 layers from shifting I wanted to quilt something in the center. In the past I did a heart, here I did an owl. Jeffrey enlarged a section of the fabric and I traced it onto soluble paper and quilted it.

 Here it is finished with the paper torn out and then washed out.

 I thought it looked fabulous without the edge top stitching...but when it came out of the dryer it was obvious it needed topstitching to be shake and go....and what new mother is going to press the edge of a receiving blanket before it gets used?

Chenille blanket update

I kept looking at the blanket... and decided that I did not like the binding.
So I went to the store and auditioned another color; green but bought another package of blue.
Ripped off the poorly applied blanket binding....did I mention that I put it on after taking a sleeping pill?
and replaced it.

  changes;

• I actually used the 3-step zigzag stitch that I thought I'd used the first time.
• I did not baste one side down and then fold the binding over the edge of the blanket.(Which I did the first time.)
• I jostled the blanket into the fold as deep as it would go and put a few pins in, then stitched.
  This actually worked much better and the stitching is close to the edge on both sides. (you can see how far my stitching got from the edge in the ripped off binding above.)

 

• I machine stitched each side from the miter to the end of the side, then took it out from under the machine and hand-folded, pinned, then started the next side at the miter.
• I did not stitch down the mitered corners by machine, did them by hand.
• I did not try to end the binding inside a miter, ended it on a side, at a diagonal and then hand-stitched it.

finished blanket:

Chenille baby blanket

I finished grandson #7's baby blanket. It turned out to be pretty green, (the other side is blue).

 This is it after it was washed once.

 This is before it was washed.

 This is what is hidden under the blanket binding. I thought that just putting the blanket binding on top of the slashed part would make for a bulky binding. There are 3 layers of flannel under the binding, the blanket has 4 layers.

things I learned;

• the second layer of flannel shows the most, green here, that makes it the layer that was next to the backing of the blanket.
• I turned the blue gingham flannel upside down and worried about it the whole time, but the blue is folded up so much that you do see the right side more than the wrong side. (the right side was facing down.)
• the blanket binding was no fun to put on. Basting it helped but picking out the basting actually damaged the satin in one area.
• The satin binding...we'll see, if the baby loves the feel it is worth it but that is an unknown, next time I'll use regular quilt binding, but what color?
• I THINK next time I will match the back and first layer and then that will be the dominate color in the blanket and the binding will match that.
• It drapes great for a baby blanket, a little thick but will work great in a cold climate.
• 4-1.25 yards of flannel, 1 package of blanket binding, plus some scraps that I got from a friend for the last edge.
• measure then cut the section that goes under the blanket binding so the edge doesn't ripple
• I like the lengthwise grain pieces best
• The chenille cutter I bought about 10 years ago finally got used and the cutting of the slashes was the quickest part of this project. Mine looks something like this one. But was made by olfa, before they changed the design, so maybe the new one works even better.

 I saw a chenille quilt last week at a quilt shop. It was much heavier with batting and multiple borders after the chenille area. The chenille was 3 layers of the identical quilting fabric, a panel, (cut through 2 layers)  then with batting and another layer for the back. Cute, though and the panel showed up great.

Other post about this blanket here.