Make a Super Fast Chubby Potholder!

I'm in the middle of "revitalizing" my living room, dining room and kitchen. Case in point: My nasty 10 year old potholders...yeah...not so cute! So - nasty potholders + some brand new Moda charm packs = new potholders!

I do not have the patience to get too tricky with my sewing projects...so if you're too much of a perfectionist (for some reason, my perfectionist tendencies end when I start sewing...go figure!), this project probably isn't for you...but if you need a quick, fun little something - give it a try!

This is what I made with my daughters today:

Cute, huh? If you'd like to try to make some yourself, all you need for each one are:
*One 10"x10" fabric square (mine are from a Moda Tranquility layer cake)
*Four 5"x5" squares (we mixed and matched from Moda charm packs - Zippidy Doo Dah, Cotton Blossoms and American Primer)
*Two layers of approx. 10"x10" batting (I just used the cheap stuff from WalMart - no use wasting expensive stuff on potholders!)
*One 5" length of coordinating ribbon
*Thread, sewing machine and/or serger

1.) Place 2 of the 5x5 squares right side together, sew along one edge (scant 1/4"...I serged mine). Repeat with the other 2 squares.

2.) Line up the two pieces from step 1, face to face, as shown and sew scant 1/4" (or serge) along one edge to create a large square:

3.) Iron all your pieces so the seams lie flat:

4.) Make a "quilt sandwich" by layering the 10x10 square on the bottom (right side down), then the 2 pieces of batting, then the other piece (right side up). Line up the corners of the fabric as best you can (the top square will be slightly smaller than the bottom square):

My stack of "sandwiches":

5.) With your sewing machine (this part won't work on the serger!), sew through all layers along the seams on the top piece. Its much easier to keep it from puckering if you sew one long line first, then do the cross-line in 2 sections, starting from the center and working to each outer edge:

6.) Fold the ribbon in half and tack down to the center of one of the sides, with the loop pointing towards the center of the potholder:

7.) If you want to, stick a couple pins along the edges to keep the layers together. This is the part where you can be as tricky or simple as you want. I did the "fast and furious" method - I just serged all the edges. You could also make a binding (like quilting) or use some sort of pre-made edging on it:

All done!

I made these over-sized on purpose - they're bigger to accomodate an entire pot bottom if you have something sitting on it...or you can fold it in half and its a great size for picking things up:

Total time (not counting cutting fabric...the Moda stuff saves a LOT of time since its pre-cut!) - about 10 minutes per potholder!

Let me know if you give it a try and what you do to make yours prettier than mine:) I might do something with the edges of mine later...