Chenille Potholder - The Tutorial

Supplies:
Walking Foot (a must have for this project)
1/2 yard, scrap fabrics
Ironing board fabric (OPTIONAL)
Cotton batting

Cut:
1 Backing (or ironing board fabric) 11 inch square
1 Batting 11 inch square
1 Inner lining fabric 10 1/2 inch square
5 top layer 9 1/2 inch squares

There are a couple ways you can make the Chenille Potholder. One of them uses fabric made to cover Ironing Boards as your backing. This is totally optional. I made one without and it's still thick enough that you will not feel the heat if using as a potholder. If you want to use the Ironing Board backing - you can just use any cotton fabric as your backing**.

(** If using regular fabric and making a potholder - I would recommend replacing your cotton batting with batting made specifically for potholders. If you are making mug rugs or a floor rug - regular cotton batting would be just fine)

This is an example of Ironing Board backing. Silver on one side/cotton on the other. Totally optional though. A regular cotton fabric works well too.

Lay your backing fabric Right Side down. Add batting to begin your "sandwich"

top batting with your Inner Fabric (10 1/2 inch square). Then top that with your 5 top layer squares (All Right Sides UP)

Your stack should look similar to this

I like to pin initially to keep straight while doing the first line of stitching. You can remove pins as you go.

Set your Sewing Machine Stitch length to approx 3.0. You will want to use a longer stitch with all these thick layers. This is optional - but I found it worked better.

Continue to stitch parallel lines 3/8 inch apart. Go to one side, then flip and do the other side.

It will look like this. Some shifting is normal even with the walking foot. That's a lot of layers!!

Now for the fun part. You will cut the fabric between each parallel line. This can be done with a small sharp scissors or with the Chenille Tool. YOU ARE ONLY CUTTING THE 5 TOP LAYERS!!! Take care not to cut any other layers.

Now it will look something like this...



Now you trim off your rough edges so the Chenilled rows go all the way to the edges and it is square.

And the final step - Bind and machine wash/dry.

 I used homespun fabric for the darker potholder and flannel for the lighter potholder. Both washed up super soft. You can also play with your sizes. A larger rectangle would make a nice hot pad for setting large dishes on the table.

Or you can make a large square - and when you square it up, you could cut into 4 pieces and then bind each seperate. Making 4 mug rugs - a nice personal gift for coworkers.. or friends.

If you have questions - let me know.

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