Potholders Swap

 

Hello, I hope everyone is doing fine. It's the end of October already. The past few weeks, I have not done much sewing, cos my spondylitis is giving me trouble again. The therapist told me to stop working for a couple of weeks and exercise more regularly. The latter I'm still struggling with. Ha! 

But I managed to finish the potholders swap for our Desi Quilters Pot of Gratitude Swap. It's now received with so much love. Thank you, partner!! Well, working with the mood board assigned to you is pretty challenging. I was assigned this cool mood board by Kuppulakhsmi.  

It took me a couple of days to think about what would be the best fit. I browse Pinterest and Instagram and even made a couple of blocks that I thought would work out, but it was not. So I add those blocks to my PHD bin. I decided to make mini granny square blocks, using 1.5" squares and the color palette in the photos. Well, some shades and added green to brighten it. I found the blue bird print in my stash that is perfect for backing. 

WATCH NOW: HOW TO MAKE SCRAPPY POTHOLDER

And I also got my swap package from Preetha. When she posted the pineapple potholders in the group, I sort of know it's for me but I was not sure. So I'm very happy when they arrived with all the other goodies she sent. The color thread cones are fantastic. I've been searching for one but did not find it in my regular shop. And don't miss the pretty keyring, my initial!! The potholders are so cute that  I put them up in my sewing room now. I don't have the heart to use them. Thank you so much Preetha for the thoughtful gifts! She told me the lady who made the beautiful keyring is battling cancer. If you happen to read up to this part, please send a prayer to her.

As I said, making these potholders is pretty challenging. Besides we have to make according to the mood board, we also learn to make a small block that fits the idea. You can choose, either color or shape from the mood board or a mix of those. I was thinking of different ideas, including making flower appliques, but decided to make a simple one, a granny square block, but using smaller pieces so that I can fit in more colors. Now that reminds me of my UFO Granny Square quilt. 

ALSO READ: How to make a granny square pillow with zipper

All in all, swap is a great learning process and the feeling of receiving gifts of love from our online friends is really warms my heart. 

Thank you for stopping by,

Take care & happy sewing!

Elvira

VIDEO TUTORIAL - Potholders from Scraps

 Hello,

Pumpkin Potholder Tutorial

 

I have a mountain of scraps in buckets and bags all around the house. Somehow I just don't have the heart to throw them away. Whenever I see my fabric scraps I feel inspired and full of ideas, but then those ideas remain on my "bucket list". 

A few weeks ago, Tina and I discussed the next swap, after the successful swap we has last month in Desi Quilters. This time she has with the idea of exchanging Potholders and as usual, she came up with the most suitable name "pot of gratitude". This is to remind us to always be grateful during this Pandemic and by making a gift for our virtual friends who always be there to help in our crafting or quilting journey. 

So, let me talk about potholders that I usually make.

1. Batting

The first question that people ask is always about what kind of batting to use for potholders. Well, we don't have thermal batting for retail here in India. I usually use double or triple layers of cotton batting. A few years ago before cotton batting was easily accessible, I use a few layers of cotton flannel (like THIS coaster). If you have scrap batting, you can use it even if it's narrow strips you can layer them. 

2. Fabrics. 

Store-bought potholders usually use thicker or canvas cotton. I normally use quilting cotton or poplin cotton. And if I use Indian fabrics (mulmul) I usually use nonwoven interfacing to give additional weight. On the back, you can use casement fabric or canvas if you have one.

3. Quilting.

You can either sandwich two layers of batting with top and backing and quilt them together or you can quilt the top and back separately like in THIS mug rug. I personally prefer the latter because it turned out thicker which is perfect for potholders. You can quilt the top with denser quilting lines but I'd suggest using less dense quilting lines for the backing. 

4. Binding

For square or rectangle potholders, I'd suggest using a jellyroll strip. A 2.5" wide is a good one, but if you use thicker batting, you might want to use a 3" wide binding. I normally used 1.5" wide binding for small quilts, but since we're going to use the potholders a lot, thicker binding is always better. 

The same applied to bias binding. In this pumpkin potholder video, I use scraps of about 11" x 17" fabric to make 2.5" wide binding which yields around 1.65 meters of binding strips. Enough to make 2 potholders. 

I wrote about making bias binding in THIS POST using a square of fabric. You can make bias binding from fat eighth or fat quarter like in THIS VIDEO

Bias Binding Tutorial

Alright, now about the POT OF GRATITUDE SWAP, here are the rules:

- It should be pieced or appliqued

- Should be quilted by hand or machine

- Embroidery can be added but avoid beads and sequins

- The edges must be finished with binding or facing.

- There must be a loop for hanging the potholders.  

- Must be made according to your partner's mood board. Sonalee wrote how to create a mood board on her blog HERE. 

In the videos below, I shared 2 projects that I made using fabric crumbs. Not really make a dent in my scrap bins but I am using only scraps here. So I'm pretty happy! 

Let's get down to work now

For the Crumbs Potholder, you need: 

- 5" long crumbs strips 0.75" or 1" Wide (1.5 to 2 cm)

- Lightweight Fusible Interfacing 8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm) - cut 1 (optional).

Not necessary if using quilting cotton

- Cotton Batting 9" x 9" (23 x 23 cm) - cut 2

- 1 strip Jellyroll or 2.5" x WOF (6.5 Cm x WOF)

- Potholder Loop 2.5" x 3" (6.5 x 7.5 cm) - cut 1

And here what you need to make the Pumpkin potholder:

- Download the Template HERE

- Skinny Strips 1" x 7.5" Long - 20 pieces or so

- Backing Fabric: 7.5" x 9" - Cut 1

- Cotton batting 7.5" x 9" - Cut 2

- Fabric for bias binding - I used 11" x 17" which yields around 65" (165 cm) of 2.5" wide bias

binding. Enough to make 2 potholders.

I hope you find the video helpful, especially for beginners. Please do let me know in the comment below if you have any questions. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Sewing

Elvira

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