Sewing: Paste Batik Pot-holders, Coasters, Place Mats

A good friend reminded me to post pictures of the paste batik items we've been making on and off. So, here are a couple of potholders, coasters and place mats.

Place mats are much (ab)used in our house - every meal we sit down together at the dining table for involves place settings, with food served family-style sometimes but usually just portioned-out plates...



I had a limited set of acrylic colors I wanted to use up before I bought more vibrant ones I've been eying, so, the neon pinks and greens get repeated, as do the blues and oranges, in this set of paste batiks. Also as these are mostly utility items, the designs are just free-hand with no pattern in mind, but, there are a few other projects I've been working on with specific pattern/design.

Of course, single-color piping is overdone, so, I went with purple and yellow for the potholders. Or so I'd like to think :) Fact is, I had just enough of yellow and purple wide double-fold bias tape leftover from some older sewing project which worked out well for these pot-holders.

Usually, I just sew a layer of fresh fabric over an old pot-holder to extend its life - re-use and recycle. Sometimes, I cut up old cotton towels for the filling layer, keeping in mind that this may not quite be as heat resistant as needed. The coasters have Oggie's old wash cloth as the batting layer inside.

But, I have also sewn pot holders from scratch to give away where I've used Insul-Brite™ for heat resistant layering and it has worked out well.

Paste batik is very addictive and sometimes there'd be a few assorted size fabric pieces hanging to dry, waiting to be finished... of course, since I work only in spurts, there is always a huge lag between the gung-ho start of a new project and the eventual finish to my satisfaction... C'est la vie.