No one will believe your kids made these!
From super-easy shapes to those that are a little bit more complicated with a few more layers for older kids, these shaped potholders are completely unique, and can be made in an hour. In many cases they can be made in less, once you’ve tried the basic techniques once or twice. Depending on the pattern you make, these simple, charming designs are suitable for children ages 5-14.
After just an hour of fun sewing (with minimal frustration or confusion) your child will have a tiny, beautiful little quilt. These delightful shapes are completely functional as potholders – or as miniature wall-hangings. And they make great “Gifts for Grandma.”
Sign-up to be notified as soon as our 1-hour, 1-of-a-Kind Shaped Potholders pattern book and accompanying video tutorial series goes live!
Why Shaped Designs?
We chose to do shaped patterns rather than traditional squares for several reasons.
Reason #1:
Shaped designs are turned inside-out, which eliminates the need for binding. Thus, even though these potholders look hard, they are in fact easier than a basic square with binding. (The only exception is the very last design in the most advanced group, but even that one’s pretty easy.)
Reason #2:
Shaped pieces are really cool. They look more interesting, they’re more impressive because the impression is that they must be harder than traditional squares or circles, and they’re more attractive to kids!
Reason #3:
Plus, by sewing our 1-hour, 1-of-a-kind shaped potholders, your kids will learn all of the basic sewing techniques that they need to know in order to sew, mend, and even fabric art quilt their way through life:
- Basic sewing machine skills
- Straight stitching
- Zig-zag, serge, and satin (buttonhole) stitching
- How to read and follow basic patterns
- Understanding and sewing a quarter-inch seam
- Basic appliqueing (which sounds scary but is really very easy and is also the basis of most mending techniques)
- Handling ribbon and rickrack as basic trims (optional)
- The whipstitch (a basic hand-sewing technique that takes only a few minutes and can be used in mending and embroidery.)
Everything the 1-hour, 1-of-a-Kind Potholder Pattern Book Includes
The pattern book includes 12 custom potholder patterns, and printable 8X10 templates with sewing guides for each separate shape. Along with the step-by-step instructions and graphics, your purchase includes exclusive access to our video tutorial series, which shows exactly how we did it.
*Note:
Each child is different, of course. Some are ready to try far more advanced techniques than their age suggests, and some need more time. But we’ve broken the 12 patterns into sections based on difficulty, with our estimated age-range for each set.
Super-Easy Basic Beginner (Ages 5-7)
These three patterns are extremely basic. Each requires only one applique, and minimal if any zig-zag or serge stitching, and a little hand-stitching.
- Basic butterfly
- Baseball
- Easter eggs
Easy Beginner (8-10)
These four patterns can still be done in under an hour, but they are more appropriate for older children who have more manual dexterity and a little bit of experience. They require applique techniques, zig-zag or serge stitching, and the single hand-sewn seam.
- Football
- Treasure chest
- Sun
- Basic flower
Fancy Beginner (11-14)
These five patterns are just as easy in basics as the others, but they have more corners and angles to work with, and require a little bit more patience and a few more techniques to make them really shine.
- Puppy
- Kitten
- Multi-petal flower
- Stained glass butterfly
- Triceratops (this is the hardest pattern in the book, but it can still be done in an hour!)
The finished potholders are startlingly realistic, and can be done using many different types of fabric, thread, and trim. (All trims and embellishments are optional, of course, but we recommend our favorites in the video series.)
We’re putting the finishing touches on our pattern book as I’m writing this, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up and a chance to be notified via our email newsletter as soon as this unique, fun, and ridiculously easy project book is available.
We hope that you do sign-up, you get a lot of great benefits including another great, easy quilting pattern with the newsletter, and each issue has some great bonuses, news, and fun stuff – plus the bonus reports like the one that will go out to notify our subscribers when the pattern book is officially available!
To the greater good of your quiltivity, (and fun sewing times for your little munchkins),
Your Guide to Quiltivity,
Karyl Fitzgerald
Princess YellowBelly Designs’ “original-pattern-designing, straight-seam-sewing, seam-ripping-mistake-fixing, verbose-wording, how-to-do-it-funner-faster-easier-instructing, quilting-artist”Resident Genius
