Spring-time Eggstravaganza: Stripey Egg Potholder Tutorial + How-to Attach Bias Tape.

Spring-time Eggstravaganza is almost coming to an end .... have you enjoyed this series?  If so, I may do more in the future (with a different theme of course).  After today's potholder tutorial I have 2 more springy projects for you.  

If you made the stripey egg mug rug from last week, this potholder should be a breeze for you, because many of the steps are very similar, such as the cutting and piecing of the top.  One of the biggest differences is that the potholder has a bound edge, whereas the mug rug did not.  I did this to make the potholder a bit bigger than the mug rug (also the potholder is thicker).  The great thing is though, is that they both use the same template, so if you saved your template from the mug rug, you get to put it to use again.  Otherwise, if you need to print a new egg shaped template, get it HERE. 

Let's get started!

x-x-x-x Egg Shaped Pot Holder Tutorial x-x-x-x

(apx. finished size: 9.5" x 7.5")

Gather Your Supplies:

• Printed Egg Shape Template (HERE)
• 6 scraps of printed quilting weight 100% cotton each measuring 6” x 8”
• 1 piece of Insul-Bright insulated batting measuring 8” x 10”
• 1 piece* of 100% cotton batting measuring 8” x 10” (* if you would like additional protection from the heat, use 2 pieces of cotton batting in addition to the Insul-Bright for a total of 3 layers of batting)
• 1 piece of medium weight 100% linen measuring 8” x 10”
• 1 yard ½” double fold bias tape  (if you make it yourself, please be sure to cut on the bias)
• Hand sewing needle and thread
• 4.5 – 5” piece if ribbon (any width is fine)

Basic sewing supplies: sewing machine, sewing thread, scissors, iron, 70/10 universal sewing machine needle, 90/14 quilting sewing machine needle, pins, etc. 

Optional: 

Walking foot—very helpful for sewing through multiple layers.

Binding clips are also very handy.

A note to my international friends: 1" = 2.54 cm, 1 yard = 0.91 m. 

Abbreviation Key: RS= right sides, WS = wrong sides 

Want to know what fabrics I used?  From left to right: Art Gallery Naturella, Melissa Averinos Sugar Snap, Amy Butler Love, Melissa Averinos Sugar Snap, Michael Miller Ta Dots, and lastly another Melissa Averinos Sugar Snap print that is not pictured here. 

Potholder Instructions:

Prepare your pattern piece:

1. Print your pattern pieces with your printer scaling set to none (if you do not do this, your potholder will end up a bit smaller).

2.  Cut out the pattern pieces along the solid and dashed lines.

3.  Overlap the 2 pattern pieces slightly where indicated and tape together.  Set aside. 

Prepared pattern piece (above) is the same one that we used to make the egg shaped mug rug. 

Prepare the pieced top:

4.  Gather your 6 pieces of cotton (each cut to 2" x 8" each), and determine the order that you would like your fabrics in.

5. Beginning with the first two pieces, align the two long edges RS together.

6.  Stitch the 2 pieces together using a 1/4” seam and your 70/10 needle.

7. Continue stitching the remaining pieces together in the same fashion until you have one pieced top.  Press the seams.

All 6 fabric scraps sewn together = our pieced top!

Press the seams.  I usually press seams completely open, but when I have light fabrics paired next to dark fabrics, I press the entire seam towards the darker side.  The method you choose is up to you. 

  

Make the quilt sandwich:

 8. Gather your pieced top, both pieces of batting and your linen.

9. Place the linen on a flat surface – if you are using a fabric that has a RS and a WS, the WS should be facing up, followed by the cotton batting* next (* both pieces if you decided to use 2), the insulated batting (reflective "shiny" side facing up), and the pieced top last with RS facing up. 

10. Pin through all 4 layers.

Quilt:

11. Take your quilt sandwich to your sewing machine and switch to your 90/14 needle. If you have a walking foot, switch to that now as well.

12. Quilt your piece as desired.  The example was stitched using stitching lines parallel to the sewn seams.  Both the “stitch in the ditch”  and "outline" stitching techniques were used.

13. Press the entire piece.

Quilted front and back.  Feel free to quilt as desired, go ahead and use your darning foot and do some free motion quilting if you are fancy like that!

Cut the egg shape and baste:

14. Get your egg pattern piece and place on top of your quilt sandwich. Pin the pattern piece to your quilt sandwich.

15. Cut 3/8” along the outside of the pattern piece through all of the layers.

Before (left) and after (right) cutting.

16. Take your piece of ribbon, and align the raw edges of the ribbon with the raw edge of your quilt sandwich at the top of the egg. Pin in place.

17. Using a 1/8" seam, baste the entire quilt sandwich together, including the ribbon.  This will make applying the binding easier. If you know how to attach bias tape, go ahead and attach it ... and then you are done! If you do not know how to attach bias tape, then continue on to the next "how-to" portion of this tutorial.  

How-to: Apply Bias Tape to a Curvy Item

Bind your egg:

18.  Place your egg (quilt sandwich) facing right side up. 

19.  Open up the binding, and place the right side facing down (if there is one) onto the top of the egg.  Align the raw edges, and pin in place leaving a 2-3" tail at the beginning.

20. Pinch where the 2 ends of the binding meet (you may have to remove some of your pins to do this).

21.  Stitch where the 2 ends meet, and trim the seam to 1/4".  Press the seam open, and re- pin binding in place if necessary.

22.  Stitch around the entire piece using a 1/2 “ seam (note: you can just sew in the fold line of the bias tape).

23. Fold the bias tape over the raw edges to the back of the egg, and pin or clip in place with the raw edge enclosed (Note: binding clips are a lot easier to use than pins).

24.  Using your hand sewing needle and thread, stitch the binding to the linen by hand.  Space your stitches about 1/8 to 1/4 “ apart.  Do not take your needle through to the front of the egg.  When you get to the ribbon,  stitch through the binding, ribbon and linen.

When I attach binding by hand I just use either a whip stitch or a slip stitch.  There may be an alternative, or "better" stitch to use ... I am certainly no expert, but I use either one of those stitches because they are quick and easy. 

25. Press.  Here is a photo of the completed back:

Share your creation! Post a picture to the split stitch flickr pool.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Hugs, Sara :)