Sewing for the Kitchen

I love sewing things for my kitchen. Fun little things to brighten up the place and make cooking a little more fun and colorful. I love cooking and baking, but having little handmade things around in there just helps a little. You know, like the dishmat...

When I read about the Blogger's Dinner Party, I thought it sounded like such a fun idea. Sew something for your kitchen and blog about it. Easy, right? I immediately started thinking of all the kitchen things that are on my list of to-dos. We recently bought a new dining room table and every day I think about how much it needs a wardrobe of table runners. And place mats. And new napkins...

Sadly, it's going to have to wait a while as I've just got too much going on right now. But one day, pretty table, one day I will make you some snazzy things to wear. Pinky swear.

I really wanted to join in the fun, though, so I'm going to show you some of the little things I have made in the past. 

Oh, look! It's a reversible toaster cover!  I like the main fabrics, but I hate the binding. I haven't decided yet if I want to just switch the binding or make a new one. I used this tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew. Very easy and has stood up well to several months of my kids yanking it off every morning to make their toast. 

 Next up we have the potholders. We received so many potholders when we got married that I really won't need any new ones until the year 2030, but I needed an excuse to practice my quilt making skills. 

They've been used many times in the last 6 months, so they're a little wonky.

I practiced my free-motion skills on that Suburbia one. I've got a long way to go. I loved making these, and chances are good that if any of my friends move to a new place, I will make some potholders as housewarming gifts. Along with fresh bread and some of that homemade jam.

I can't believe I'm even showing you these, but my kids like them, so here they are. 

Last summer I decided to make some place mats for my kids. Keep in mind that I hadn't really sewn too much then, so look past the amateur nature of this project. Super simple, but my kids love naming all the veggies and tools while they are eating. I had bought some canvas drop cloth for another project but had some left over and decided to use it as the back for these placemats. I really like how sturdy they are, but I forgot to pre-wash the top fabric so they shrank differently and won't lay completely flat.

So there you go. Hopefully in the next month or two I'll have time to make some pretty new things for the table so I can link up again.