Winterkist 2-in-1: Serving Mats & Bowls Tutorial

*** This is not an official post for the Winterkist blog hop. If you are trying to enter the giveaway, leave a comment on the post here. Comments on this post will not count, but you can still leave them because I will still love them! ***

 

Yesterday I shared a quick intro to my project for the Winterkist Blog Hop, as well as a full tutorial for piecing the pattern I made. I guess I kind of did this all backwards. I should have posted today's post yesterday and yesterday's post today. Oh well. :)

My Smaller serving mat. 

I did my rows and columns in order on this one. The larger size is randomly pieced.

Today I'm going to share with you MORE pictures and a quick how-to for the 2-in-1 Serving Mats/bowls. Though I'm not sure if I should really call them bowls, or baskets, or what. Anyway, you know what I mean. :)

I LOVE the straight lines over these circles!

The larger serving mat as an upside down bowl.

I really love these! I can just picture taking these to a Christmas party to place under the yummy goodies I'd bring. Or to host your own party for your goodies. 

 
All the fabric in these, besides the Kona White, is from the Winterkist line.



I've been looking at this the past couple days and I am just dreaming up rows and rows of banana bread, zuchini bread, marble bread, etc in there. Then I dream about eating it all by myself. lol.


These are fully machine washable, so it would be ok to put food in them.



The backs, or insides.

Ok, now here's my tutorial for putting these together. (sorry I don't have a ton of pictures for this part)

Here's what's going on:

• I have one front piece (my Weave) cut to the size I want. 
• I cut out and ironed to the front piece one piece of fusible fleece - cut the same size as the front piece
• I have one larger piece for the back - cut it so that it is 1"plus wider on ALL sides than the front piece
• Cut out one piece of heavy weight interfacing (cut the same size as the front piece)
• Iron the heavy weight interfacing in the middle of the back piece (maintaining that 1" border around the interfacing)

 If you're curious, the size of my front piece is 12.5" x 19.5"


Line up the front piece so it is flush with the heavy weight interfacing.

Then PIN BASTE IT! I highly recommend the quilters pins that are bent. It's a lot easier to pin through all the layers and not have any shifting since the pin naturally curves to come back out.

I quilted these with diagonal lines.
To start I took my ruler and figured the angle I wanted to start with. Then I used my crotchet hook (sorry the clear doesn't show up so well. I've also used knitting needles, but couldn't find mine at the moment) and *drew* a line along the ruler. I think this is what people use the Herra marking tool for (is that what it's called?). I don't know if that specific tool has magical powers, but from what I can tell a knitting needle works just as well. :)

You may wan to do this step before you pin in case you have pins in the way, I didn't so I was fine. :)

I only mark one line, because then I use my sewing foot, or my sewing guides, and this first seam to line up the rest of my quilting.

See how good that line shows up while I'm sewing?!

Once you have it all quilted, trim up the extra fabric from the back so it is 1" on all sides. then fold it in half towards the front so it is then 1/2" wide. Then fold the whole thing over again on top of the front of your *quilt*.  Pin it in place. Fold your corners as best you can so they look good. (I am horrible at the corners. I do trim some of the fabric back so they aren't so bulky, but I don't really know how to miter them very well. Do the best you can.) :)


Then sew as close to to the edge as you can, making sure you catch the binding.

 

You are ALMOST finished!

Now decide how much you want the sides to fold up by pinching the corners.

 

obviously not pinching them here, but here you can see what it will look like. My smaller mat has larger sides than the bigger one. You can make yours however you want!

Measure the height of your sides. (I'm going to call this "X" inches)

Now lay it flat, use a large clear ruler to measure in from one side "X" inches. My smaller baskets have 2.5" sides. Mark it 1/4" from the edge, and then mark it  "X" inches in.

I marked THREE dots. The dot in the center just helps to keep things lined up, you really don't need it probably. 

I tried to put snaps in this to snap the corners. If you have the sew on snaps you could use those. But otherwise all the layers are WAY to thick. So, Instead I sewed on some velcro. You want a male and female piece in each corner. Place the velcro so it covers the 1/4" mark on the sides. I used the heavy duty velcro that has the sticky on it. Probably not the best for your machine, but I know that if my baskets are full they won't come undone. I know some sewing velcro doesn't hold well, so you'll want to play around and find one that will stay together.

*** If you only want these to be bowls, and not the 2-in-1, simply pinch the sides and then sew the corners. Easy as that. :) ***

NOW you are DONE! Wahoo! :)

baskets upside down

Have fun! If you make something like this, I hope you'll share!! :) 

You can add photos to the from blank pages... flickr group. ;) or leave a comment!
and as always, if you have any questions, please ask!