Potholders Here, There, Everywhere!

Happy Humpday!

Wednesdays are usually pretty good for me, despite the aforesaid moniker. I mean, back when I was in high school or college, yeah, Wednesdays weren't so cool. They just meant 3 long days until the weekend. But now? Wednesdays are practically lucky. No long lines at stores in the mornings, no one at the pool in our apartment complex until the evening, it's just dandy by me!

Wednesdays are also a good day for me to get some of my smaller projects done. I don't have the time to do anything super big or time-consuming (save those for the weekend), but I can always do something small with a new technique I haven't tried yet. Like potholders.


Potholders are my favorite "scrap" projects. They don't use a ton of fabric, they're simple in design, and you can practice about a hundred different techniques on them. My first attempts at piping? Potholders. My first self-made bias-binding? Potholders. My (yet to be perfected) endeavor in free-motion quilting? Potholders.

Now, most of the potholders still in my kitchen are either a very large or very worn-out (because let's face it, unless I truly love the potholders, I wrap the fresh ones up nicely and give them to friends or family as a present). I've been meaning to make a fresh set to replace some... well-loved... potholders given to us by DH's mom. I like that they're simple, and they're not bulky like the more "kitchen mitt" ones I've made. So, there's my inspiration, now let's see what we end up with!

Supplies:

Front Fabric (8"x8")

Back Fabric (8"x8")

3x Batting (8"x8")
Thread (both normal and embroidery)
Sewing Machine
Scissors/Rotary Cutter
Ruler

Batting was all stacked and cut as one

When I'm making potholders (or anything that's going to be withstanding a good amount of heat), I try to use 100% cotton, because I feel like that's least likely to start smoking if I, say, put a casserole fresh out of the oven on it for a while. I still have plenty of scraps in my stash, so I'm just going to piece a few together for the front and back squares. The batting I'm using is 100% cotton, too.

I don't really want these potholders to have a binding, so I'm going to sew them together right sides facing, with the batting on the front piece. Leave a gap for turning!

My gap at the top is about 3"

 Now that I've clipped the corners, I can turn them right side out and press them. Use a knitting needle or screw driver to help you really turn out those corners neatly. You could use just about anything pointy that fits through the gap, but I prefer not to use pens, as they may leak, so knitting needles seem logical to me.

Pressed and laid out with some coordinating embroidery threads

Use a ladder stitch to sew the gap shut once you've pressed everything (you could machine stitch around the whole edge, if you'd rather, but I didn't want mine to show).

Not the neatest at hand-stitching, am I? Hence I love my little Brother (machine)

To finish the little potholders, and add just a little more color, I'm hand-quilting them with embroidery thread. I normally just straight line quilt these little guys with my machine, but I recently saw an example of Japanese sashiko stitching (go ahead and look it up), and it's absolutely beautiful. I love the geometry and the simplicity of it, although I'm sure there's nothing simple about actually accomplishing those patterns. So, I'm doing the easy version, just a series of straight running stitches, first vertically across the fabric, then horizontally.

Running stitches... about the only hand stitch I can do nicely

To neaten up the edges once you've done the running stitches, just tuck the tail ends into the seam at the outside. This makes a pseudo-blanket stitch effect around the edges, too!

Right into the seam, then clip the protruding tail end when you've finished

And voila! That's a nice little (easy) set of potholders that will be well-loved in our kitchen from now on! Go ahead and make a few, for yourself or friends. Something this short and easy is perfect for a Wednesday, after all.

Cute!

I might just use them to set the hot pots on the kitchen table, they're like table decorations in and of themselves. If you have any questions or suggestion, please leave a comment! I'd love to see designs you came up with, too.

Happy Sewing!
Lea