Monday, March 30, 2020

Faux Pas

So I made some 'new' potholders over the weekend. Actually new out of old. Back story... a few years ago I took a class from Carolyn Friedlander at QuiltCon, and ended up making a table runner that was really special to me. Fast forward to a few months ago when it was irreparably damaged. I think the culprit was a plant that was repeatedly watered with no saucer under the pot. Oops.


But anyway, I just couldn't throw the runner away and finally over the weekend I had the courage to cut into the best of what was left and re-purpose it. Thought I might share about what I did, just in case you find yourself in similar circumstances. Highly unlikely, but still.


So first of course was cutting the 'good' out of the 'bad.' I started by cutting 9 1/2" squares. Even though the runner had the three typical quilt layers, I treated it as front + batt. So I also cut squares out of Insul-Bright and backing fabric, placed my quilt 'top' on top, and spray-basted the layers together. Next was some minimal additional quilting, just to hold the layers together. Considering they were relatively small pieces, they didn't need much.


Then I cut 2 1/2" binding - thicker than my normal - but I figured with five layers it might be a good idea. I went ahead and machine-stitched the binding on just because. I really wasn't in the mood to drag this 'redo' out. But, in spite of the mishap, I ended up recreating something, if not better, at least very good. Whew.

8 comments:

  1. I'm at the stage where the bed quilt I made as a wedding gift to my husband is coming apart and I am considering the best way to repurpose it as well. I'm debating on just trimming it smaller and rebinding as the worst seems to be at the edges, using as is for a picnic quilt, or cutting apart more drastically. So I can relate on how hard it is to cut into something well loved as I have not worked up the courage or firmly decided on how to proceed myself.

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  2. Great idea, you're so brave! Now you have 'designer' pot holders. I think repurposing is improv at its best.

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  3. Our 20 year old king size bed quilt is finally getting pretty ratty!! I need to re-bind it..I guess we can't expect it to last longer than that!! It is is big and I love that old (1999) binding fabric...it was red and navy little Ohio Stars...so cute...
    but its size makes it so hard to handle for me now...S I G H --everything changes...
    Glad you re-purposed that runner--I love CF's fabrics--have some waiting for the "right" project...~ ~ ~ ing from afar Julierose ;)))

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  4. Wow I can see why you loved that table runner. Didn’t it turn out well as potholders!? Great idea. I read through but didn’t understand when you said you treated all three layers as ‘front batt’. I’ve never heard that expression before.

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  5. I think this is brilliant. I had wondered how you handled the insulbrite, if you had already put it in the table runner? here's my answer. your treasure lives on

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  6. I love that your repurposed a treasured object to extend its' life. And those are pretty snazzy potholders. At our house they would be kept far from the spaghetti sauce. Someone has an uncanny ability to get sauce on anything new or freshly laundered, but I keep him anyway.

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  7. While many of us would have cut our losses and perhaps toss the damaged runner, you most certainly got us to rethink that! Such a great idea!

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  8. What a wonderful save. They are beautiful. I'm glad you were able to give them new life.

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