Hey friends, I know I have been slacking but with Christmas and sickness...Just Sayin!
So I had this fantastic idea before the holidays, as a single mom
with a not so huge income I decided to make my holidays handmade
for my friends. I was going to make cutting boards using my Silhouette!!
And Potholders using my mad sewing skills!!!
I mean I have been sewing for flippin 30 years, how hard can potholders be?
I mean I caught a very vague tutorial post on a blog, she made it sound like I
could make fifty in a day without batting an eyelash then bake 3 cakes!
NO...Just NO....first of all she simply said "just cut an oval from an
8.5X11 piece of paper and trim fabric accordingly"
All I can say to that is I DARE YOU to try one time to just cut an oval with scissors
from a piece of paper and BAM perfection happens....lie #1.
So once I decided that I was going to use my Silhouette to cut a perfect
oval and the 1/3 ovals I thought I had it mastered. WRONG!
The vague tutorial mentions that only using 1 layer of heat protective
Insul-Bright from Joanns wore off after a onto or so and you needed TWO layers!
So I thought I was ahead of the game, 2 layers it is baby!
What she didn't mention was...2 layers plus 2 layers of fabric,
OH and 2 more layers, PLUS 2 more layers of fabric means like
45 layers I did the math! Not so easy to wrap this EXTRA WIDE Binding
which by the way means 1/2"!!! Around 45 layers and stitch perfectly even.
Now I admit it, I am not a pinner, I don't pin my patterns unless they are huge,
I simply don't pin. I know that makes me slightly cooler then you right? (by cooler I mean dumber)
BUT I tried to pin this bitch since it was 8 layers deep....
did not work.
So I figured it out, cut the Insul-Bright slightly smaller and it makes
stitching the binding much easier. So I made my cut files for
fabric and batting separately.
fabric and batting separately.
So the things I learned making potholders?
TEST one on scrap fabric...You might think sewing an oval is cake...
trust me I keep it real...IT'S NOT!
DO not freehand cut an oval that's just stupid.
DO NOT freehand the 1/3 ovals onto the potholder...they WILL be crooked.
LINE THEM UP and pin them.
DRINK alcohol before starting, it eases the pain.
FIND your MOST non judgmental friend the one who thinks you are
amazing even if you fall off the curb. Give her the first set of potholders you make.
Just listen to me on this one.
I am including cut files for your silhouette if you want to try these.
For ONE Potholder:
1. Trim out 2 ovals from fabric. Then trim hand pieces also.
2. Trim out 2 layers of Insul-Bright. Hand pieces and ovals.
3. Iron fabric with steam.
4. Sew edges of all 4 pieces.
5. Sew Binding to top straight edge of hand pieces.
6. Pin hand pieces to oval potholder in straight lines.
7. Sew binding around edges and trim off.
Here are the Cut Files:
