Mid month potholders and rug!

This month’s potholder is a bit different and to show you how I did it, I took pictures of the technique while making a rug!

I’m sure you might have heard of the new buzz for jelly roll rugs and 2 1/2” strips of batting now too!

I’ve just watched a bit of a youtube video and I know how to make coiled baskets and also how to make the baskets by folding over the edges instead of winding it around, and doing it on batting instead of cording is easy too!

A few weeks ago a CERTAIN little 2yr old (not mentioning any names ANJA!) got into my shelf of fabrics and unwrapped the jelly roll! – oh the horror!!

So I knew I wanted to use it up soon before it got tangles/split up more.

Then first thing I did was to sew the ends together by laying two pieces right sides together at an angle and sewing diagonally, at first you have to look at it and flip it to make sure you’re doing it right and not make a mitered corner instead I didn’t worry about the selvedge edges as it all gets trimmed off anyways.

a while later I had this pile!

Then my big AHA! moment was when I decided (and found out in the accuquilt FB group) that it doesn’t hurt the blades on the GO die to cut batting! (your mat might get fuzzy, but it wasn’t bad at all and I started with a worn mat anyways, I’ve replaced my rotary mat more often I think because I cut batting on there and the blade pushed the batting into the cut groove on the mat, on this mat it was NOTHING!

I have piled of small pieces of batting, that might be wide enough but then only 10-15” so it’s tricky to use those.

Here I double folded a piece of batting and ran it thru the machine, so each piece was roughly between 35” x 45” long, some I had to trim because they were too long, but not many.

I used the 2 1/2” strip die that cuts out 3 strips at a time

Since my jelly roll had 40 pieces or maybe 42? I cut out 40 batting strips (I only had ONE left over at the end!)

with the fabric strips I trimmed the seams and ironed open.

Then the tedious part! Laying a piece of batting on top of the strip (at the beginning I folded over the raw edge

Then like bias binding, I folded the sides toward the middle and then folded the middle in half and then I clipped it with wonder clips, I did as much as I could until I ran out of clips.

If a batting strip ended I just butted them up against another one and clipped it right on the seam so it wouldn’t shift while I sewed

Here’s what I managed to do in one sitting

Then with a walking foot I stitched close to the edge all the way until the clips ran out, then cut the threads and clipped another section

Of course since I CERTAIN little one was the start of it, she had to help me too, she sat in my lap and took the clips off, she would however try to pull instead of push down on the clip to open it, so I quickly figured out how to open it actually with my left hand, since I was holding everything with my right hand and Anja would take the clip and put it in the container

a great help!

Here’s what I had after a few rounds, this part took a few hours I think total, I had to split it up between two nights (after spending 6 hrs at the local DMV to get my son his driver’s PERMIT!)

Here’s everything done!

My machine comes with an extension table so I put that on, since it sits on a dining table, it’s really not a good height to have the table on it all the time, but for this project you want a flat surface.

At this point I zig zagged it together, I fold maybe 12” or so, well not folded but carefully turned it at the ends, at first my thread kept skipping, then I changed the thread which helped a bit, BUT my biggest FIX was to change to a larger needle!! then it worked like a charm!

I kept stitching and carefully turning at the ends and keeping it flat!

at this point I ran out of bobbin thread so I took a picture

and another bobbin

and another

Here’s the whole rug done!

do you see the problem??? it’s not lying flat!!

I had a feeling too as it got HUGE and was heavy too, it was hard to maneuver on the machine, well lesson learned, it’s a play mat for the kids, as the wooden chest if filled with LEGOs so it’ll be nice to be on something soft when they play

Now onto the potholder!

I wanted to make a potholder or more like a coaster with this same technique. So I got out one fat quarter

folded it in half and cut out (6) strips on the 2 1/2” die.

with the long batting double folded I cut out 3 strips

then in the same way sewed the ends together at an angle

and clipped them

I was able to clip everything and have some clips leftover!

Then sewed the seam on all of it

starting with a circle is very fiddly and tricky but just in the beginning.

Just start slow!

and before long the trivet/coaster is done!

About an 9” circle!

compared to the big rug above, this one was easy peasy and took no time at all!

So if you’re curious about these jelly roll rugs, try out with batting scraps and a fat quarter, this way it’s something small and you’ll get the technique down and can then do something bigger!

Maybe place mats or a smaller rug?

Try it out!!