Wednesday, April 15, 2009

You See A Skirt--I See A Potholder

I think the Easter Bunny stole my potholders. Seriously, they are nowhere to be found. As I was searching high and low for them, I spotted this skirt in the giveaway pile . . . .
And, I had a light bulb moment. The colors totally match my kitchen, and since the Easter Bunny (or more likely Levi) has absconded with my potholders, this little skirt would certainly make some mighty cute replacements. So, here's the story of how I turned that into these...
What you'll need:
A skirt (or any old piece of fabric)
batting
6 inch ribbon
coordinating thread
*Note: do make sure that you aren't using materials that are prone to melting. Stick with natural fibers.

What to do:
Cut an 8 inch square out of a piece of paper. This will be your pattern. Draw your pattern onto your fabric. I can never find my washable fabric pencils, so I just use a ball point pen. I know...how terrible of me! You'll need to cut two squares of fabric. I cut one from the top of the skirt and one from the skirt's lining which was blue. You'll also need two squares of batting.
Once everything is cut out...
Place your fabric right sides together. Then sandwich the fabric between the two pieces of batting. So, you'll have batting, fabric, fabric, batting. Fold your ribbon in half. Place it in between the two pieces of fabric at one corner. Like so:
Pin everything together.
Sew around the edges leaving an opening for turning. Trim and turn:
Iron everything flat, making sure that your opening edges are neatly tucked in.
Top stitch around the edge. This will close your opening.
To finish, machine quilt. I just quickly outlined some of the major shapes. You could do a simple grid or even just a few straight lines. Voila!
I also whipped up a couple of smaller ones for Levi. Same idea as above except with only a 6 inch square of fabric and only one layer of batting. Please excuse the backdrop. Levi's kitchen is in serious need of some tlc. I found it on the side of the road and have been meaning to fix it up.
These are seriously easy to make and can be done during nap time. I'm thinking a couple of these little kiddo potholders and an apron or a chef's hat would make a terribly cute gift. Hmmm...now I'm going to need to figure out how to make a chef's hat. Oh, wouldn't Levi just look too cute for words?!!

16 comments:

  1. Oh fun! I need to make some too. I haven't been able to find mine either. I bet I brought them to a friends house along with a casserole or something.

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  2. these are so cute. and what a great way to recycle an old skirt. why to be green:-)

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  3. I'm sure you can figure the chef's hat out yourself, but in case you don't want to, I have made one from this tute which worked out OK.

    http://moonbeamsinajar.blogspot.com/2008/06/c-is-for-chef-h-is-for-hat-chef-hat.html

    Nice pot holders. Mine are looking pretty worn out. Perhaps I need to make some too.

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  4. Those are too cute!! What a great idea :)

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  5. Those are so cute, what a great idea. I love repurposing fabric for a new use.

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  6. Those potholders are awesome...you're SO good at just 'whipping' up things - you inspire me!! ;) And Levi's little potholders are TOO cute!

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  7. The elephant and lion make my heart melt! Adorable!

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  8. I love to see upcycled projects..nice work...and they look FANTASIC in your kitchen!

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  9. So loving your creativity!!!! Not all see pot holders in a skirt :)

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  10. just had to say I also brought home many unusal things to save too, so my girls come by it honest:-) No duck eggs though.

    pretty soon we will have the yearly tadpoles in the fishtank.

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  11. PS Is there nothing you can't make?

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  12. I love the skirt! But the potholders are really fun too.

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  13. You are so crafty! I love those pot holders!

    This post totally reminds me of "Sound of Music" when Maria takes those curtains and transforms them into playclothes for the kids...have you seen that movie? It's a classic, for sure!

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  14. Great repurposing! and it matches your fantastic kettle! Nice job.

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  15. These are great. Definitely something I am going to try.

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I'm so glad you're here!