Pink Christmas Stockings

I made a bundle of little Christmas stockings out of fabric printed with breast cancer pink ribbons and sayings.  I also used some other pink prints to make enough stockings.  I am making these for my new "cancer club" friends. The ladies in my breast cancer support group have been really great and we are having a group meeting in mid-December; these will be fun to bring along and show my gratitude to them for becoming such a source of information, strength and friendship to me.

I made the stockings by freehand drawing a stocking shape and cutting out several. No big deal there, pretty simple. I tried to keep it small, yet big enough. They aren't too large.

Then I added a cuff made of a small pink gingham print. It's cute. I embroidered names on the cuffs before I cut them and added them to the stockings. They aren't perfect, but they are good enough. I then folded the cuffs over and attached them to the tops of the stockings.

I see that I have stockings going in each direction. Whoops. Oh well. Since they won't be hung together (each lady will take one home with her) it shouldn't matter.

I made them completely on the serger. This was a good project if you want to practice serging curves because the stocking has the heel, toe, and ankle curves.

When you get to this point in the stocking:

 You need to curve around the ankle but you can't because the knife will cut the fabric. This is how I do it and I get a great seam every time!

I pull the fabric so that it is straight. It will come out just fine when you lay it flat again.

When I go around the toe and heel, the curve is the opposite way, so I just serge slowly and lift the presser foot to adjust if needed. Those are easier.

I showed the top picture to a breast cancer support group on facebook and the ladies there went crazy for it! There were at least 50 requests for me to make them and sell or give them to the ladies on that forum. Amazing response!  Because of the positive response, I went out to search for more pink ribbon fabric. I purchased this fabric at a quilting shop that went out of business last summer. I checked every store that sells fabric, and couldn't find any. I did find some online, but by the time I order fabric online, get the stockings made and shipped out to buyers, it would be after Christmas already. So, I will keep this project in mind for next Christmas and get ready earlier!

In the meantime, the ladies in my breast cancer support group are going to get these cute little stockings. They are quick and easy to make and come from the heart. I'm sure they will really like them! (hoping anyway!)

Potholders

I made a bunch of potholders!  These are simple and fun.

I found some lovely fabric prints cut squares in 9" x 9".  I sandwiched padding between the fabric. I used a layer of low pile quilt batting and a layer of Insul-Bright.

Insul-Bright is some pretty neat stuff.  It insulates and prevents heat/cold from passing through. It is a padding that is needle punched with metal fibers.  They explain it on their web site. It looks like glitter infused batting and sounds kind of crunchy. I found it very easy to cut and sew.

I made some bias tape and edged the pot holders and made a hanging loop. I keep my pot holders in a drawer next to the stove. I'm not sure why I think they need a hanging loop, but I added one anyway. It just looks like a potholder if it has a loop!

I made potholders as gifts for some friends and for my oldest daughter. I've received nice comments and thank-yous from all. And my daughter would be honest enough to tell me if she didn't like it! My friends would probably say thank you no matter what they thought, but I believe they said they liked the potholders and they genuinely meant it.

After making and giving out a few sets, I decided that I want a pair for myself. My pair is the set that turned out the worst. Such a simple project but I rushed through my own set of potholders. I used green thread on top and brown in the bobbin, both match the fabric but it made for some interesting stitches. I also got one potholder crooked when I made the quilting stitches during the sandwiching phase. Deciding to make it a quick project, I just trimmed the crooked edges to make one potholder a smaller square. This would have been fine if I would have thought to trim down the other potholder to match. Now they are not the same size which is a bit comical, but in my kitchen it is just fine. Sure gave my husband a good laugh though!

We have been using the new potholders and they are great! Nice and large compared to every other store-bought worn out potholder in my kitchen. And they feel thin enough to usefully grab hold of a pan handle, but no heat is getting through.

My daughter set her potholder ablaze. She said the fabric flamed up and burned to a crisp, but the Insul-bright lining did not. The padding was hot and only burned as embers rather than flames. She is my best product-tester. There you have it, pot-holders that resist heat except when ablaze. Then they just resist flames. The fabric on the other hand didn't stand a chance.