Pretty Potholder: Part 2

A potholder! What a satisfying little project. When I saw Jaime's Pretty Potholders Tutorial last week, I knew I had to try it. Oddly, we are very particular about our potholders here, but with a few tweaks I was able to recreate our favorite style... and with a ruffle of beautiful fabric!

Check out this version of Jaime's Pretty Potholder after the jump.
1. I used an old cotton towel as my batting, as well as, the outer surface for all layers minus the outer pocket. Cut 3 layers of 9"x9" towel, 2 layers of 9"x7" towel and 1 18'x7" piece of fabric. If you want to skip the ruffle effect, cut it 9"x7". This is Alexander Henry Farmdale Crossing in Oatmeal, which is sold out, but they still have the even cuter pink!


2. Baste stitch (your longest stitch, usually a 5) along the very top and bottom edge of your fabric rectangle.


3. Gather the fabric down to 9" wide by pulling on the back thread on one side and scrunching the fabric.


4. Repeat on bottom. Tie threads together at all 4 corners to secure ruffle.


5. Pin ruffle to top of double layer of 9"x7" towel.


6. Sew all 3 layers together all the way around 1/4" from edge.



7. Start quilting the pocket by sewing straight lines down from top to bottom. I used my handy Stitch Guide Foot that came with my sewing machine for perfectly spaced 1" lines.

tip: try not to cross over large folds, create flat spaces to hide your stitches.

This is what the back looks like/

8. Along the top of the pocket, add 1/2" double fold bias tape. Here is a refresher on How to Sew with Bias Tape.



Set pocket aside.

9. With 3 - 9"x9" layers in a stack, sew 1/4" from edge all the way around.


10. Quilt in straight lines 1" apart.


11. Pin pocket to main square.

12. Turn over and draw round corners on all but top left corner (which is actually top right corner on front.)


13. Starting on that straight corner and down left side, pin bias tape, following curved line as you hit the corners. When you get back to the start, leave a tail approx 4" long.


14. Here I switched to a walking foot because of the thickness and sewed around first fold.


15. When you get all the way around, make sure your original tape is closed around the top edge and just sew until you meet the original tape edge.




16. Use the bias tape edge as your guide and trim the rounded corners and any uneven edges.



17. Fold bias tape up and around front of potholder and sew in place starting with the top right (not tail) end.


18. When you get to the end, keep sewing until the end of the tail.




19. Loop the tail into a well... loop and secure with several forward and backward stitches.


20. And your done! Highly functional potholders, just like Daddy likes, but with a little style, just like mommy likes. It's all about compromise they say. Clare just says "it's ugly because the ribbon is gray."


So, what do you think? Are you inspired to replace those grundgy potholders? Remember to enter your potholder into the SEWING MACHINE DOUBLE DOWN CONTEST for your chance to win a new Brother Sewing Machine!