About those Grommets

When it came time to add grommets to the potholders I made recently, I was a bit apprehensive. I looked to hubby for help, but he barely had time to try it himself before running off on his own deadlines. So I studied the {poor} diagrams on the package, and then tested one on some scrap fabric. Feeling fairly confident, I forged ahead, with pretty decent results. It's not hard - it's just that there's a right way and a wrong way, so when you go to it, pay close attention.

You start with a pair of grommet pliers (mine are by Dritz, purchased from amazon.com) and a package of grommets (purchased separately, as I wanted silver).

First, you mark your placement. But before you do, take a good look at your pliers. See the white piece on the bottom? It actually swivels. To do the marking, you want the flat surface of the platform to be positioned so when you "bite" the fabric, the metal hits the flat rather than the indented part. (make sense?)

So go ahead and "bite" the fabric where you want your grommet to be. I just held the pliers as far in as I could in the corner of the potholder.

If the project were thinner, maybe the pliers would cut clear through, but with 2 layers of quilting cotton and 2 layers of batting, I needed to trim just a tad with my small, pointy scissors.

Before you move to the next step, you should have a small hole clear through your project.

Now it's time to actually insert the first half of the grommet. Use the piece that has a 'post' and place it through the hole with the flattest (finished) side on the right side of your fabric. What you see below is the potholder back facing up.

Now take a grommet 'washer' and place it over the post. The domed side of the washer should be facing up. (A spare post/washer set on the side there so hopefully you can clearly see the difference.)

Grab your grommet pliers, and turn the white platform around so the indented end meets up with the metal piece.

Time to press that grommet on! The large white part of the platform will protect the right side of your grommet on the top of your piece, while the metal bit will spread the post to keep the grommet in place. Press as hard as you can at this point!

The wrong side of the grommet on the back of your piece will look like this:

While the front looks nice and finished like this:

You just installed a grommet! And your potholder is ready to use!

If you make a project inspired by this or any other post you see on A Quilter's Table, it would be great if you posted pictures in my flickr group, Quilting with A Quilter's Table. Thanks!