Iron Caddy tote

I admire all those bloggers who put together such great tutorials!  I had a quilt bee today, and we were to bring our own projects to work on.  What to do??  Well, I had seen a tutorial on a blog (can’t remember where) with a PDF file link for making an Iron Caddy tote.  I printed out a copy a month or more ago, and decided it was time to make one.    What is it?  Oh, a carrier for your iron, plus a place to iron when you are at a retreat, sit & sew, etc.  Took me less than a day to make it….could have been faster, but it is finished!!  First of all – here is a link to the PDF pattern – Iron Caddy Tote.  Thanks Tri County Quilters!

(Could have been faster if somebody hadn’t plied me with a bottle of Leinenkugels Summer Shandy. But that’s another story..Oh those wild girls in my quilt bee)

A quick look at the pattern will give you a feel for how it looks, both open and closed.  I shopped for the “shiny silver ironing board material” and found it at Hancock Fabrics.  I had the Insulbrite on hand already, and lots of scraps of batting in a bin.  I chose  a green floral with some great animals for the main fabric, and a coordinating brown for the handles and the “flange” on my “go-to” Susies Magic Binding.  The pattern instructions have you  make a full scale copy of the pattern and then stitch through it for the quilting.  If I were to do it again, I would mark my stitching lines with a pencil. The paper was newsprint and not so easy to pull off.  I was using an older machine without a walking foot, so I lengthened the stitch, where I really should have shortened it!  After I got the paper off, I stitched again with a shorter stitch.

Notes to remember – use cotton thread, top and bobbin for the area that is going to be ironed on.  I used Aurifil in a nice brown and it doesn’t look bad on the silver pressing surface.  My first run thru stitching I had it in the bobbin.  I switched machines (I started at a friends house during our quilt bee meeting) when I got home, and stitched those “fold lines” one more time.

At home I put the Aurifil brown in the top thread, and had Superior Cashmere in the bobbin.  Since there is no heat on the “cotton side” I didn’t think the poly thread would be a problem in the bobbin.  I used the 2 layers of  cotton batting, the silver iron board fabric and the Insulbrite, so I think the poly thread will be ok on the pretty side of the project.

The only thing lacking in the directions is “how much” fabric to cut for the binding, or if there was a preferred method for putting the binding on. So, I resorted to my Susies Magic Binding Method, and added up the 4 sides of the mat and figured it out for myself. (Oh no…engaged the brain….).  I dug through the button box and found two nice brown buttons with shanks, and dug through the “elastic box” and cut some “vintage elastic from my mother-in-law’s “stash”.  Check out the price of that elastic!!  I think the buttons are vintage too.  Wonder what year that elastic is from? It was still stretchy, so why not?!!

 

The high price of elastic.

 

ready for a full size iron

Folded up and ready to tote, even hot

close up of the fabric and binding

Nice to do a project in a day; start to finish!! Now, on to the grandkids projects before my next visit!!!

Happy sewing!