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Potholders & Dishcloths


I surprised myself by actually finishing something to put away for gifting next Christmas.  So, this is my January contribution towards next year being a "homemade Christmas"!  I made three chenille potholders ...

...and two matching dishcloths.  These were fun and easy projects!  The dishcloths are nice and large and made from sugar sacks so should be good and absorbent.  I added a band of one of my favourite fabrics towards the bottom of each dishcloth and sewed a length of ribbon on each side of it on both on the top and bottom edge so that the raw edges of the fabric were caught in between.  Then I found matching trim in my stash and stitched it on top of the ribbon.  I added a loop to the top of each dishcloth and they were done.

The chenille potholders are very easy to do as well.  They are made of a sandwich of the featured fabric (face down for the back), two layers of insulating batting, five layers of colourful scraps of quilting cotton face up, topped with the featured fabric again, also face up. 

 Sew diagonal lines across the potholder sandwich, about half an inch apart, starting in the middle and working out on both sides.  You can see the lines of stitching here on the back of the finished potholder. 

Working on the front, clip along between all the lines of stitching, down as far as the last layer of quilting fabric before the batting.  So, you will have the fabric at the back face down, followed face up  by the batting, one layer of fabric and then all the rest to the top will be clipped.  At this point you add a matching binding and a loop if desired and the sewing is finished.  Once you wash the potholder, all the clipped portions will fray and puff up, giving you the chenille appearance.  Fun!

Comments

Barb said…
I love your potholders!
February 5, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Arlene Delloro said…
I have to try the chenille. Thanks for the great explanation.
February 5, 2012 at 4:25 PM
Suztats said…
That patterned fabric is really pretty, and finish off the tea towels nicely, along with the trims. Does the chenille effect mean the pattern on the fabric gets lost?
February 5, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Unknown said…
You are so smart. Next Christmas will be so much more stress-free for you. I told my family that next year if we want to give gifts, to do hand made. I need to follow your example and start now.
February 7, 2012 at 7:22 AM
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