Machine Embroidered Pot Holders

And on the practical side of my life…  You’ve heard the old saying “Preacher’s kids are always the worst?”  Well, here are my current potholders.  Pretty sad, huh?  They’ve definitely seen better days.

I have no idea how old they are.  I just loved the whimsey print on the front and while I could have purchased new ones for next to nothing at WalMart, why would I do that when I can make my own?  That thought has prevented me from dropping the $5 to purchase new ones for years…and years.

I found my crosshatch design on Etsy.  I used cotton thread for the embroidery in the top and bottom because I was afraid a synthetic might melt over time.

There’s an old saying in the machine embroidery world too, “There are those that test, and those who wish they did.”  I’m in the 2nd category on this project of course.  I figured ‘how hard can this be?’  I hooped some stabilizer, added my chosen fabric and two layers of batting and off I went.  I ended up with beautiful stiff pieces of cardboard.  Note to self, don’t use stabilizer next time.  The thought was to make the front and back the same, that’s why there are 4 pieces here.

So on the 2nd go, I used black backing fabric as the “stabilizer” itself and then added two layers of batting and another piece of fabric from the same group of fatquarters.  It worked out perfect!

Again, I used two pieces of 80/20 batting.  Now you might be saying, “But what about Insulbrite in the batting?”  Nope.  I have some, but I don’t like how it sounds in the finished product and after inspecting the innards of the old potholders, they didn’t have it so…

I rounded the corners using ginormous washers from the hardware store, a.k.a my pattern weights.

I made 2″ bias binding from the same black fabric as the backing.
I love my new potholders!