Fall Inspired Potholder

I'm not ready to dive into Christmas quite yet, so I decide to complete one last fall project. Can you believe Thanksgiving is in a week ?!?! Where has the time gone this year?

I had some padded quilter's fabric leftover from my DIY Laptop Case project, and decided to make some potholders.We already have Halloween and Christmas kitchen accessories, but no Thanksgiving...well, not any more.

First, I created a template for the potholder by tracing and adapting a current potholder. I pinned the template to the fabric and cut.

I hemmed the edges and sewed the two fabric pieces together, inside out.

All sewn up!

Flip right side out.

For the applique, I cut out a leaf and flower bundle from some leftover fabric I had from making curtains last weekend. I used Heat-n-Bond in applying the applique.

After finding the placement of the applique, I secured it by using my flat iron. I hate dragging out the iron and ironing board for simple things, like adhering an applique or ironing a hem. One, because I'm lazy, and two, my iron and I do not get along since I burned my hand down to the muscle two Thanksgivings ago. Stupid tablecloths.

Voila! A cuter way to pull the stuffing and pies out of the oven!

Fabric Flower Napkin Rings

As we begin our countdown to Thanksgiving, I have slowly been putting together the table scape and decorations. We are having ten people in total breaking bread together. I wanted to make napkin rings that would match the fabric flower on the Give Thanks Banner I made last week.

First, I started by cutting out fabric circles with my pinking blade, that measure 3 1/4 inches in diameter.

To make the flower:

Fold the fabric circle in half, and then bring the fold into the center. To hold the shape of the flower, sew the bottom together. This makes one petal. Repeat eight times.

Sew four of the petals together in a row, at the bottom.

Sew two groups of four petals together at the bottom, to create a poofy flower.

To create the ring, I cut a paper towel roll tube into 1 1/2 inch sections.

I mod podge-ed 2 inch wide fabric onto the tube, folding over and adhering the excess fabric to the inside of the tube. Let dry for a couple of hours.

While the tubes dry, cuddle up and take a nap with your 110 pound puppy.

Once the tube is dry, adhere the flower to the ring using hot glue.

Voila! A gorgeous fabric flower napkin ring to celebrate Thanksgiving!

DIY: Laptop Case

Fortunetly, I was able to replace the screen to my laptop, when it cracked about a month ago. (By purchasing on Amazon, and having Bryan do the hard labor.)

I knew I was going to have to buy a laptop case to protect the new screen. However, I didn't find any I loved enough to shell out money for, so I decided to make my own.

I found the brown quilter's padding in the remnant bin at Jo-Ann's. The floral fabric is from Fancy Tiger Crafts. Last but not least, an 18 inch zipper that matches the fabric.

First, I traced the perimeter of my laptop with a Sharpie onto card stock. The thickness of the pen, made the outline wider than the laptop, which allowed for seam allowance.

I traced the card stock pattern onto both the quilter's padding and the fabric. I pinned and stitched them together.

To allow the laptop to easily slide in and out of the case, I added a one inch edging between the two side panels.

Install the zipper, ensuring both side panels line up evenly on both sides.

 

On the first side, pin the edge to the side panel and sew. Turn the case inside out and pin and sew the other side.

All sewn up!

 Flip right side out and you are ready to go!

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DIY: Circle Skirt

I found this great tutorial on making a circle skirt, here. I made one in the past for the girl I nanny, and have been dying to make one for me as well. I used the same idea as the tutorial listed, however I used two different kinds of fabrics, because, one, I didn't have enough fabric to make the full doughnut shape, and, two, I liked the idea of multiple patterns.

 First, to make the template. I taped four pieces of 12inches by 12 inches of card stock together. Using the template idea listed in the tutorial, I measured my waist. My waist is almost 40 inches + 2 inches for elastic give, divided by 6.28. Remember geometry? I don't either, but the original tutorial explains it a lot better than I do.

42 / 6.28 = 6.7 inches. Using a measuring tape, I measured an arch 6.7 inches from the corner of the template. I then measured another arch 17.5 inches from the first arch.

And Cut.

When lining up the fabric, I discovered I didn't have enough to make a full doughnut shape, so I cut off three inches for the trim.

I used safety pins to hold the template to the fabric and cut.

Here is everything, all cut, and ready to sew!

First, I ironed the hem for the bottom edge.

And sewed the hem and the four pieces together.

Here is the bottom fabric all sewn together!

Pin the bottom fabric to the underside of the main fabric.

And sew! (Please excuse the bad manicure!)

Yay! The hard part is done!

Pin and sew the elastic to the waist of the hip. Making sure the elastic is taut, stretch it as you sew to make sure it stays flat against the fabric.

A fun and flirty new skirt for fall! Plus, you are never too old to twirl in a skirt.

Happy Sewing,
Katie