A Steno Pad for My Thoughts
Blah, Blah, Blah. Connect the dots. This blog is now an archive only. No new entries will be posted, please visit our new blog here.The Kitchen Cooking Gift Pack
The goal this week is to show the handmade gifts I’m giving out this year to my peeps. The first one up is a kitchen cooking gift pack that includes one of the wooden bead trivets, potholder, packet of seasoning to make Tandoori Chicken (amazingly good quick dinner for us) and our favorite dinner recipe cards.
To make the potholders, I used a contrasting fabric on the front and back along with some handmade bias tape.
The potholder is made by layering a 6″ square pieces of cotton, silver ironing board cover fabric, followed by two pieces of wool felt, ironing board cover fabric again and then a square of corresponding cotton fabric on the backside. And, if I used a white cotton I ironed on an interfacing to the backside so the silver-ness of the ironing board fabric underneath didn’t show through the fabric.
I then quilted the top layer (cotton top, ironing board fabric, wool felt) and then quilted the back layer.
For the quilting, I did a different design on each potholder just for kicks, this is the backside of the front of one in an easy pattern (cause you don’t have to pick up your needle) that looked cool. But on the others, I did a graph pattern and then a zig zag pattern and finally a chevron type pattern.
That looks like this on the front:
After I quilted both the front and the backside, I used my serger and serged the two pieces together before adding the bias binding.
To make the bias tape I used for the binding I used these handy dandy wonderful Clover bias tape makers you use with your iron that folds over the fabric as you pull it out of the contraption. I used the 18mm one.
Now I wanted a loop on the end and I found the most seamless way to do this was to start sewing down the bias in one corner but leave about a 4 inch tail off the end before you start sewing. This will become your loop in the end.
You sew the bias tape edging on around the potholder and fold over the end just beneath the tail in the corner you started at as show below.
You then hand sew the bias to the back like you would for any quilt binding. Afterwhich, I sewed the tail edges together (folding in the binding at the end so you it will be a finished edge). You know have one flat piece which you will loop back onto the backside and hand stitch down.
When you’ve hand sewn down the loop to the backside the completed loop looks like this on the front:
And like this on the backside:
As for the recipe cards, they are part of the Martha Stewart Crafts line and were on clearance at one time at Michaels so I snatched them up. I ran them through my printer with the recipes.
Here are more of the potholders:
That looks quite sweet all packaged up:
11 Comments Add your own
1. burd | December 4th, 2007 at 4:26 am
that is some amazing bias tape. i’ve been sewing forever and i can’t do that for the life of me. i just don’t have the patience? dexterity? something. those are gorgeous.
2. hannah | December 4th, 2007 at 6:31 am
ooooh, much fancier than mine!
3. kjerstiye | December 4th, 2007 at 7:32 am
so much awesome in one small package!
I want to be one of your peeps to get rockin’ packages like that!
4. Molly | December 4th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Soooo cute! What a wonderful gift. I love the fabrics you chose.
5. vanessa | December 4th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Wonderful job with that loop!
6. Nancy Cook | December 4th, 2007 at 10:22 am
love the potholders
seems like a lot of work but maybe it goes quick…
have to try it someday
you should sell these.
7. Janet McKinney | December 4th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Very nice… I must show the hot mats I made up for my presents today. I hadn’t thought of combining them with a recipe etc for a present - must think some more about that
Janet McKinney
8. mj | December 5th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Great directions for making hot pads. I’ll have to keep this in mind if I get ready to make some. So much more practical than directions that just say to use layers of batting, which I’m pretty sure wouldn’t be heat-proof, or requires ordering a special kind.
9. Lea | December 5th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
absolutely brilliant!!!!
10. Vickie E | December 5th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
You can also use Insulbright or insulbrite…I can’t remember the spelling. It’s a batting with a metallic middle..used for potholder and mits…It costs maybe $2-$3 a yard.
11. Laurie | December 6th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
I saw your trivet about 2 weeks ago and had my Webelos (9-10year olds) Scout troop make them. I’m just about to blog about it. It worked out really well as a gift for their Mother’s. Thank-you for your generosity in sharing the directions. (I make my postholders with 2 layers of rag, not quite completely worn out, towels.)
I'm curious about your two cents. You smart cookie!
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