A traditional way to celebrate the fun and festive holiday of St. Patrick’s Day is to wear something green. Here at Princess YellowBelly we want to take it a step further, and challenge you – and ourselves – to make something green.
We’ve made two mug rugs [aka potholders or hot pads] that are green, Irish-inspired, and just plain fun!
All the details on the Shamrock Mug Rug creation process is in this article. In this article, we’ll be sharing how we made the leprechaun hat pot holder – which is just a teensy bit harder, but can still be finished in just 1 Hour!
Or make up your own green piece of Irish magic! Table toppers, your own mug rug design, crochet, knitting, felting…let’s just have some fun with it!
Make a Leprechaun Hat Pot Holder Steps 1-5
1. Spray starch and iron a nice green fabric
2. Iron 2 layers of batting flat.
3. Build your mug rug sandwich:
- Bottom – 2 layers of batting
- Middle – strip set right side up
- Under-top – backing fabric right side down
- Very-top – Leprechaun hat paper template
- Pin all the layers together
4. Sew all around template leaving a ¼ inch allowance with the outside line and your stitching line.
5. Remove template – gently! If you can pull it loose from the stitching line without tearing it, you can use it again and again.
Make a Leprechaun Hat Pot Holder Steps 6-12
Now it’s time to do the beautiful details:
6. Cut out shamrock. Leave a ¼ inch seam allowance between where you cut and the stitching line. Snip the points – it’ll pucker if you don’t.
7. Turn shamrock right side out, gently, through the turning slit.
8. Gently push out the seams and points using a corner turner
9. Iron flat, front and back
10. Sew turning closed by hand! Use a hand sewing needle, matching thread, and a whipstitch.
11. Cut apart your paper template; the top oval of hat, the band, and the shamrock
12. Pin shamrock template on gold fabric, band template on black fabric, and cut out.
FINISH Making a Leprechaun Hat Pot Holder! Steps 13-15
13. Place top hat oval on the top of the top hat, and trace the bottom edge in chalk – then quilt this line as you like (straight stitch or satin stitch)
14. Pin black band to the hat, and sew it down using a tight, narrow satin stitch.
15. Place shamrock on the band, quilt all around the edge with a satin stitch using the thread you like best – we usually use matching thread for already pop-out detailing
And You’re Done!
Take a second to celebrate and enjoy your new Irish-inspired mug rug – mug rugs if you’ve also made our lucky shamrock potholder! Let us know about your experience in the comments below, and make sure to subscribe so you can stay current with all our great content.