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 Elegant Knitted Hot
Pads
By Suzann Thompson
Go to
instructions for Elegant Knitted Hot Pads
Ladybug
© 2005 by Suzann Thompson
knitting,
quilting, machine embroidery, embellishment;
22" x 18-1/2"
Brown Sheep Yarns, cotton backing and binding, Wrights trims, buttons
The boldly patterned ladybug against a colorful background makes this wall hanging perfect for a nursery
or child's room. I used the Ultimate Sweater Machine to knit the pieces, but one could also knit them by hand
or use old sweaters to construct the design.
To add a contrasting texture, I used the reverse side of stockinette
stitch for the green and yellow background. Black buttons repeat the ladybug
spot motif and frame the main subject.
The backing fabric is a small, black and white gingham check. When I sewed on the buttons, I made sure that the sewing thread on the back of the piece always landed on a black check. You can hardly see the button tacks. Was it worth all the work and the admittedly fussy finishing details? You bet it was.
Advent Calendar
Advent
calendars count down the days until Christmas. This one has 24
buttons along the bottom, where you hang the ornaments, number side
up, at the beginning of December. Each day, find the number ornament
that corresponds with the date. Remove it from the lower button,
turn it over, and hang it from one of the buttons on the knitted
tree. When all the ornaments are hanging from the tree--the next day
is Christmas!
Find
instructions for making the Advent wall hanging and 24 knitted
ornaments in INKnitters, Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 10 (Winter 2002 through
Fall
2003 issues). The project isn't particularly difficult, but
it is time-consuming. Pace yourself.
Cherry Picking Vest
Moths have good taste. They chose to place their offspring on my beloved cherry sweater,
which I knitted by hand from Sasha Kagan's Big and Little Sweaters. They nibbled
more holes than I wanted to repair. So I put the cherry sweater with an oversized red sweater
that never looked good on me
anyway, and made this crazy-patchwork vest. I machine embroidered the red sweater. After
stabilizing the knitting with
fusible interfacing, I cut the sweaters into patches. On a lightweight cotton foundation
cut from a commercial vest pattern, I arranged the pieces and sewed them down.
Oh no, it didn't look good! The bright reds, blue, and white looked too busy and choppy.
What could I do?
Decorative stitching along the join lines helped a little. I tried various tricks to tone down
the stridently contrasting colors.
Finally I saw what was in front of my eyes the whole time. The vest had a circle theme (the
red cherries and the embroidery motifs). What (usually) circular item do I love and have in
droves? Buttons! To tone down the white, I added red buttons (an echo of the cherries).
Much better.
If red buttons on the white areas looked good, would white buttons on the red and blue areas
be even better? I tried it out. Yes! This is one of the happiest projects I've ever made.
It makes me smile every time I see it.
This vest was accepted into the Small Wonders exhibition at the 2005 Spring Quilt
Festival in Chicago.
Recycled Sweater Vest
The clerk looked at me nervously when I put a darkly colorful man's sweater on the counter.
"Do you realize this sweater is 100 percent wool?" she asked. Of course I did. That's why
I chose it. The price helped, too. It cost me about five dollars at a thrift shop.
I cut the facings and hems off of a commercial vest pattern, and used it to cut vest pieces
from the sweater. I stabilized with fusible interfacing and machine stitching. My current
favorite mother-of-pearl buttons were perfectly subtle embellishment for the vest. I added
other buttons and trims, too.
Elegant Knitted Hot Pads
© 2004 by Suzann
Thompson
You have
permission to print these instructions for your personal use. You
have permission to make the hot pads described in these instructions
for yourself and, occasionally, as gifts. Shop owners may direct
customers to this site, so that each customer can make a personal
copy. Sale of these instructions is in violation of the copyright.
You'll enjoy
using these hot pads that feature easy knitting by you, and
embroidery by the Husqvarna Viking Designer I sewing machine.
Insul-Bright thermal batting from the Warm Company makes these very
serviceable trivets and hot pot holders.
Yarn and
Fabric:
Brown Sheep Company's Lamb's Pride (85% wool, 15% mohair;
190 yd / 4 oz (173 m / 113 g)), 1 skein each of the following: M-80
Blue Blood Red and M-115 Oatmeal. This is enough for 5 or 6 hot
pads.
1/4 yd of 45" wide black denim is enough to finish 3 hot
pads. For each hot pad, cut one 8" square, two strips 8" x 1-3/8",
two strips 10" x 1-3/8", and one strip 5" x 1-1/2".
Thread:
Sulky Polydeco, black
Sulky bobbin thread,
black
Sulky invisible thread, clear
Optional: lighter bobbin
thread
Stabilizers:
Sulky Cut-away Plus, 8" square for each hot
pad
Sulky Solvy for embroidered hot pad
Sulky Sticky + for
embroidered hot pad
Sulky KK 2000 temporary spray
adhesive
Batting:
Warm Company, Insul-Bright thermal batting, 8"
square for each hot pad
Other
Supplies:
Size 8 US (5mm) knitting needles or size needed to
obtain gauge.
Fine tip permanent marker
Washing machine and
dryer
Sewing
Machine:
Husqvarna Viking Designer I, with small embroidery hoop
and Disk 4 Denim needle
Abbreviations:
st st = stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row); k = knit; p
= purl
Gauge: In st st
BEFORE WASHING: approximately 19 sts and 25 rows per 4" (10
cm).
For best results, knit a sample, wash and dry as described
below, and practice embroidering and stitching it. This will help
you determine the best thread tension and presser foot pressure to
use for embroidery and quilting.
Embroidered
Hot Pad
1.
Knit
a.
With red, cast on 41 sts. Work st st for 14 rows.
b. Change to
oatmeal. Continuing in st st, work 35 rows.
c. Change to red.
Continuing in st st, work 14 rows. Bind off.
2. Machine wash knitted piece in cold water with other
dark-colored laundry using a regular wash cycle. Tumble dry. Repeat
once. Knitting will now be about 8 x 8" and it will pull to the
right.
3. Moisten knitting, pin to a surface such as ironing board,
squaring edges and straightening stripes. If desired, steam with a
hot iron and press cloth. Let the knitting dry.
4. On an 8" square of Cut-away Plus stabilizer, draw a line
across 1-7/8" from the top, and 1-7/8" from the bottom. Spray with
KK2000 and pin to the back of the knitting, matching drawn lines
with color change lines. Hand-baste along lines and around the
edges.
5. Cut a 4-1/2 square of Solvy. Spray with KK2000 and position in
the center of the top of the knitting. Mark the center of the
oatmeal section with a thread. Mark the middle of each edge of the
knitting.
6. Hoop Sticky+, paper side up, in the 100 x 100mm embroidery
hoop. Score paper around inside of hoop and remove paper. Center the
knitting on the hoop, and press onto the Sticky+P>7. Set up
Designer I for embroidery. In the 'SET' menu, set stitch tension to
3.2, or tension that gives the best embroidery on knitting. Thread
black Polydeco on top, and black bobbin thread on the bottom. Insert
Disk 4, and choose pattern number 16. (Disk 4 comes with the
Designer I.)
8. Place hoop onto embroidery arm. Check that the needle is above
the marked center of the knitting, then remove the thread marker.
Use the 'four corners' feature to make sure the corners of the
design will all be about the same distance from the red stripes.
9. Embroider the design, using black instead of blue, red, and
green. When the machine prompts you to thread yellow, press + to
skip. Remove embroidered knitting from the hoop and tear away the
Sticky+. Tear away as much Solvy as possible, and wash away the
rest. Let dry.
10. Set up Designer I for regular sewing. Thread clear invisible
thread on top. Set presser foot at 2.0, thread tension at 4.2, and
stitch length to 3.5.
11. Place an 8" square of denim, wrong-side-up. Place a square of
batting on the denim, and top with the embroidered knitting,
right-side-up. Pin the layers together.
12. Position the hot pad so the needle falls at the outside edge
of the embroidery design's inner circle, between two lobes of the
design. Begin quilting by sewing away from the circle, and roughly
following the outline of the first lobe, about 1/4" away from it.
Stop when you reach the edge of the inner circle again. Turn and
quilt around the next lobe. Continue until all the lobes are
outlined. The first round of quilting will look like a flower with
four petals.
13. Continue quilting in rounds, each about 3/8" away from the
last. Follow instructions under "Hanging Loop and Binding" to
finish.
Striped Hot
Pad:
1.
Knit:
a. With red, cast on 41 sts. Work st st for 9 rows.
b.
Change to oatmeal. Continuing in st st, work 9 rows.
c. Change to
red. Continuing in st st, work 9 rows.
d. Repeat steps 2 and 3
twice more. Bind off.
2. Machine wash knitted piece in cold water with other
dark-colored laundry using a regular wash cycle. Tumble dry. Repeat
once. Knitting will now be about 8 x 8" and it will pull to the
right.
3. Moisten knitting, pin to a surface such as ironing board,
straightening edges and stripes. If desired, steam with a hot iron
and press cloth. Let the knitting dry.
4. On an 8" square of Cut-away Plus stabilizer, use the permanent
marker to draw a line across, 1-1/8" from the top. Draw 5 more
lines, each 1-1/8" from the last. Spray with KK2000 and pin to the
back of the knitting, matching drawn lines with color change lines.
Hand-baste along lines and around the edges.
5. Place an 8" square of denim, wrong-side-up. Place a square of
batting on the denim, and top with the knitting, right-side-up. Pin
the layers together.
6. Set up Designer I for regular sewing. Thread clear invisible
thread on top and black bobbin thread below. Set presser foot at
2.0, thread tension at 4.2, and stitch length to 3.5.
7. Beginning at the right edge of the pinned piece, sew through
all layers along color change rows. Let the needle fall on the red
stripes , just where the oatmeal stitches touch the red stitches.
Sew along the top and bottom. Sewing from right to left will correct
the rightward pull of the stitches.
8. Follow instructions under "Hanging Loop and Binding" to
finish.
Hanging Loop
and Binding
1. Make a hanging loop for the hot pad: press 1/4" under along
one long edge of the 5" strip of denim. Press 3/8" under along the
other edge. Fold in half and press. Sew the folded edge together
with black thread on top and bottom.
2. Trim edges of the quilted piece to make them square and even.
3. Bind one side of the hot pad: place an 8" strip on top of hot
pad, right sides together, raw edges even. Sew 1/4" from edge. If
desired, use a light color in the bobbin. It is much easier to see
when you are ready to sew the binding in the back.
4. Fold the strip over the raw edges and to the back. Fold under
about 1/4" of the strip, and sew the folded edge over the original
binding seam. Sew by hand or by stitching in the ditch.
5. Bind the other side as in steps 3 and 4. Bind the bottom with
a 10" strip, folding the ends in to make square, finished corners.
6. Fold hanging loop in half lengthwise and turn the sewn edge
away from you. Open out the sewn edges, so that there's a loop on
top, but the 'legs' of the loop lie flat. Center this loop on the
top back of the hot pad, with raw edges even. Pin in place and
baste.
7. Bind the top of the hot pad, including the raw edges of the
hanging loop. Fold the loop up, and tack in place. Trim threads and
remove basting.
Contact Suzann
at textilefusion@email.toast.net
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