Potholders – leave it to the experts

It’s the middle of winter. It’s freezing cold everyday. The sun is only out while I’m away at work, and then hides away the moment I get off for the day. I’ve been horrible about blogging, but only because I haven’t been working on much artwork at all, but being very crafty and domestic; Knitting, sewing, baking and the like.

Yesterday I saw this tutorial on Whip Up, on how to make patchwork potholders. In the kitchen I feel like I’m always desperately searching for something to pull out the hot stuff from the oven. The tutorial looked super easy and I was all excited to get home and start cranking these puppies out. Immediately upon starting I realized that it wasn’t going to be as fast and easy as I thought. I made the above potholder and it’s a real disgrace.

1.19.11 Treasury
Frustrated I realized that there are probably TONS of crafters who make quilted potholders on Etsy. I was inspired to make this treasury with some that caught my eye. I’m usually all about DIY, but It was one of those times where I realized I would be thrilled to support a handmade artist, and buy my future potholders online, rather than suffer through making another. And boy are they affordable! You can find lots of them for $2-$5 range. For a handmade item, that someone lovingly created, that is amazing.
And, a special note, I found this particular shop, Vintage Armoire, that takes old quilts and turns them into potholders. I love that.

robayre

Hi, I'm Robyn and I was Hatched from a Kinder Surprise Egg. Graphic Designer by day, Maker of things by night. I have worked as a graphic artist professionally since I was 16 years old. Went on to get my Bachelors of Art from NIU. I like to share my Artwork online at flickr.com/photos/robayre and on my own personal website http://www.robayre.com. I also have an online shop http://www.robayre.etsy.com where you can find more of my "crafty" sorts of things, as well as a random piece of artwork here and there. Oh, and I'm also an occasional contributor to Artomat (artomat.org).

6 thoughts on “Potholders – leave it to the experts

  1. at one point i had planned to make potholders for all my family for christmas, then I remembered I have really half-assed sewing skills and not a lot of patience with following sewing tutorials. I still want to try to make one sometime though. yours really doesn’t look that bad! i like your treasury too.

  2. It doesn’t look too bad in this picture, but when you hold it you can see it was made by a rookie. The stitches are all over the place and the edging doesn’t even cover the edge on the back. At any rate, even a poorly constructed potholder functions like a potholder. It would just be nice to have some that don’t look a 3rd grader made them :)

  3. I think you issue is mostly with the binding. You might try looking for a tutorial on doing quilting binding, I think that would make it better. Oh well, not every project is a perfect ten!

  4. I think you issue is mostly with the binding. You might try looking for a tutorial on doing quilting binding, I think that would make it better. Oh well, not every project is a perfect ten!

  5. I am impressed with anything that needs a
    Sewing machine, It doesn’t look bad at all but how cool
    That you found some cool potholders at etsy! Mine
    Are from Ikea and really plain

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