diy gift idea: scrap fabric potholders by lotta jansdotter

Exciting news, guys! We’ve teamed up with crafter, DIYer and sewer extraordinaire Lotta Jansdotter for a series of handmade holiday gifts ideas. She’ll be sharing how-tos for DIY gifts — made exclusively for Fresh Home — once a week until Christmas. I’m a huge huge fan of Lotta’s work, so when she said she wanted to do some projects just for us, I happily handed over the blog reins. Without further ado, here’s Lotta!

It is the beginning of December and time for the holidays and gift-giving. Why not give something that you have made yourself? It is always so nice to receive a handmade gift because it is more special and personal.

Potholders are one of those things that almost everybody needs and uses, whether it is your uncle, your best friend or your mother-in-law. I like making these scrap fabric potholders by using remnants and left over snippets of fabric. They are really easy and fun to make. You can whip out a stack of them in no time.

Each potholder will come out different and unique. This project does require that you have access to a sewing machine, but you can have rather basic sewing skills to make these. It is a really good beginner project and great for even the most experienced sewer.

Go ahead, kick start the holiday gift factory and have fun.

LOTTA

What you need:

1. mixed scrap cotton or linen fabric
2. a thick piece of cotton or linen fabric for your backing ( 6″x9″ )
3. scissors
4. a sewing machine
5. Rowenta iron
6. pins
7. ruler
8. pencil or fabric marker pen
9. cotton ribbon, 3″ long (optional)
10. needle

What you do:

1. Cut a few fabric strips in various widths. Make sure the length is always the same for all pieces: roughly 6 inches.
2. Pin your pieces together, one by one. With your sewing machine, use a straight stitch to sew all the pieces together until you have a length of 10 inches.
3. It’s very important that you iron down all the seams on the backside of your potholder, and make sure to use a high quality iron. I find that the Rowenta Pro Master provides the best steam that ensures all of the fabric is nice and flat.
4. Take your sewn potholder and your backing fabric and place them with the right side facing each other. Pin them together. Mark out the final size for your potholder around the edges: 5″x8″ inches.
5. Using your sewing machine, stitch with a straight stitch along your marked line, leaving an opening of 2 inches on the bottom of your potholder.
6. If you want to add a fabric hook for your potholder, make sure to pin it on top of your pot holder, placing the ribbon inside your two layers where the two design sides of the fabrics meet.
7. Turn the potholder inside out and use the end of a pencil to poke out the corners. With your iron, press the whole piece nice and flat.
8. Stitch the bottom shut using a simple stitch.

Lotta is Rowenta’s Craft Ambassador and Textile Designer, so be sure to check out more of her craft ideas, videos and projects at Rowenta’s CraftLab. And, of course, stay tuned next week for another lovely Lotta project!