My First Potholders

I learned a lot while making my first quilt. One of the most important things I learned is that I really need to improve my sewing skills. Technically, I already knew that. But while making the quilt, it was painfully obvious that I should practice using the sewing machine a bit before jumping in to make my next quilt. 

A few weeks ago, my quilt group taught an easy potholder craft after church. First we shared a video about the mission of Lutheran World Relief, then we helped the attendees sandwich batting between two squares of material and hand-tie them to make potholders. In preparation (and to get in some sewing practice), I made my first-ever potholder. And then I made two more. 

This is my first potholder. I cut two 11" squares of the same Christmas fabric and two 9" squares of heat-resistant batting (affiliate links here and below), layered them together, and then hand-tied them with red embroidery floss in the center and near each corner. Then I folded up each edge, clipped them in place (so much better than pins!), and sewed. 

For a first attempt, it's not bad. It doesn't look square, but it actually is close. My stitching wasn't quite straight, but that wasn't the problem. The issue is that I cut my fabric squares without paying attention to the checked pattern in the background. I should have made sure those were straight before cutting. Lesson learned. 

This is my second potholder. I cut the fabric correctly, so this time the crookedness isn't an optical illusion. It is definitely not square. As you can see, I machine-quilted this one rather than hand-tying it. I went to great effort to make sure my lines of stitching were as straight as possible and things were looking pretty good until I did the binding. I thought I could just fold up the edges, clip, and sew and it would be fine. Nope!

For my third potholder, I clipped the edges then machine-quilted the layers together. My lines were straight and everything looked great. I did the binding on two of the sides and it still looked good. Then I tried repeatedly to get the other two sides straight. As you can see, I did not accomplish that goal. 

 

Now I know that I should have basted the layers together with pins to prevent them from shifting, which happens during machine quilting. Just clipping the edges in a few places was not adequate. After quilting, I should have squared up the block before attempting to bind it. I'll try those next time. I've also learned about the importance of a walking foot. I assume I wasn't using that, based on the problems I had binding my quilt and the fact that now my potholders look like the problem she outlined in the video. 

Overall, I'm satisfied with my first attempts at potholders. They're recognizable as potholders - a low bar, sure, but that's where beginners start! I'm more than willing to accept imperfection, especially for something utilitarian like a potholder. But I hope that my next attempts show at least a little bit of progress. 

Potholders and Dishtowel Hidden Money Gift

My nephew turned 23 yesterday. I have been giving Timothy hidden money for every gift-giving occasion since he was 13. Almost all of the 37 money gift tutorials I have on my blog were for him. It is getting increasingly difficult to come up with an idea that is both new and able to be mailed out of state, but I enjoy the challenge. 

For his 23rd birthday, I gave him two homemade potholders and a dishtowel. 

Making the potholders was a major blast from the past. I was obsessed with my potholder maker as a kid in the 1970's. Getting a fresh bag of loops was the best! I still have my red metal 1970's potholder maker (affiliate links here and below); at some point I got a plastic one (which they sell in a variety of sizes). Some have instructions to make other things, like this awesome pineapple. Seven-year-old Cindy would have circled that in the Sears catalog for sure! Fifty-one-year-old Cindy *might* buy some yellow and green loops and do some experimenting. 

Speaking of experimenting, I had no idea if hiding money in a homemade potholder was even possible. 

I added loops in one direction, folded a dollar bill so it was really skinny, and wove it into the potholder. So far, so good.  

I wove in more loops, then realized I needed a loop where the money was or I wouldn't be able to bind off properly. So I added a white loop over the dollar bill. 

I was pleased with how hidden the money was when I finished. You can see it, but barely. It was more visible on the backside, but not bad. Time to bind off!

Uh oh. 

Darn it. I forgot how much smaller the finished potholders are than the loom. 

Fortunately, I was able to fold the ends over and weave them back in. This is the back (worse) side.... which isn't bad at all. You can see the money, but wouldn't necessarily notice it at first glance. 

For the second potholder, I started by folding the money smaller, plus I folded it so that the green portion was hidden and only the plain edge of the bill (this one's a $5) showed. 

The results were even better than the first one. Time for the dishtowel! I started with a purchased cotton dishtowel, then carefully opened up 1/2" of one of the hems. I folded the $10 and $20 bills up and slid them through the hole, one at a time, in opposite directions. 

Once I re-sewed the hem, you had to look really carefully to see that it was ever opened. The money was not visible at all (but you could feel it). If Timothy didn't know that I always hide money in his gifts, I don't think he would have even noticed it there. Even with the arrows pointing to the four hidden bills, it's pretty well disguised. 

Happy birthday to Timothy! Now I have about six weeks to figure out another money gift to give him for Christmas.