Wednesday 2 October 2013

An oven sleeve

Nope, that's not a cozy for an oven, I'm not sure a cozy for an oven is necessary, but what would I know, we haven't had an oven since April...  A work friend had her 30th birthday last month and I wanted to make her a present.  She always has burns on her hands from putting her hand in the oven to take out her toast, without an oven glove!  I told her off and she said that she does wear oven gloves when taking trays out the oven, but always burns her arm above the oven glove.  She showed me the evidence, it's a wonder that poor girl has any skin left!

Clearly, an oven glove was the idea present.  But an oven glove with a long cuff.  Mr CA decided this was an oven sleeve.

Whilst not exactly an oven sleeve, 100 pretty little projects had the perfect project - the Nifty Fifties Oven Mitt by June Cleaver.  


I pretty much followed the instructions, but wanting it to be longer I added an extra piece of linen between the patchwork strip and the gingham border at the bottom.  Unfortunately, when cutting the linen lining and the Insul-Brite oven-proof lining, I used the measurements in the book.  Duh.  I didn't have enough Insul-Brite to cut again so just added some strips at the bottom. This linen is home dec weight and was left over from my Weekender bag.


I really enjoyed quilting this.  I did an X in each patchwork piece and a line at the top and bottom, 3 straight lines in the gingham and wavy lines in the linen.  I couldn't remember for the life of me what foot to use for FMQ so used my walking foot.  I'm sure that's not right?  No idea why I didn't look it up, I had my laptop next to me as I was watching Numbers!


I used variegated blue thread in the gingham and blue patches and pink thread for everything else.


Here's the quilting from the back.  Whilst I'm not in the same league as a master quilter like Fiona, I don't think it's too bad.  There was a pattern in the book for the mitt, but you had to enlarge it by 300%.  That really annoys me.  I can't do it on my home scanner for some reason and I don't have access to a "copy shop", if I did, I'm pretty sure it'd be closed when I wasn't at work.  I ignored the pattern and used our (rather grimy looking it must be said) oven glove.


This is NOT our grimy oven glove.  


I was quite pleased with the binding.  It was sewn on the back first and folded to the front.  I wanted to machine stitch it and I could as I'd done those straight lines in the gingham, I managed to pin the binding down along one of those lines and I then knew where to stitch on the front to catch it.


The thumb is a bit odd.  Yes, I did snip a V-shape.


Not sure my hanging loop is long enough.


This is a shot of the back of the binding I was talking about earlier, I can't move the photos as it just puts them at the top.  Stupid Blogger.


I must say, I don't think much of the construction method.  This is the inside.  See that very frayey exposed seam?  As it's linen (and the pattern does call for linen) I'm not actually sure how long this is going to hold together.  I trimmed the Insul-Brite from the seam as I had to reduce some of the bulk somehow.


13 comments:

Just-Do said...

What a lovely idea to make this for your friend. Actually I'm making a couple of oven gloves myself at the moment. To prevent the seams from fraying, I make 2 mitts, one with batting which I quilt, and one for the inside, which is slightly smaller. Then you put them into eachother, wrong sides inside, and sew the binding on. This way no seams are seen.

Sandra :) said...

It's very pretty, but that raw seam (especially with linen) would bug me too - can you zigzag the raw edge to finish it off a bit and help eliminate fraying? It would probably be too awkward/bulky to bind.

Maria said...

It's really pretty Wendy. Lets hope your friend uses it now. I've made these oven gloves before and had the same problem as you did with the thumb. The inside I finished off with a very close zigzag stitch and then the binding I put on after the sides were all sewn up so the seam wouldn't be showing all the way to the top. I'll see if I can find the tutorial for you.

Anna said...

Very nice....
Hug
Anna

Jane said...

I have a oven mitt on my list to do too, lol. Good idea making it with a long sleeve

Maya Kuzman said...

Oh.. you chose beautiful fabric for this and you did an amazing job of it! Your work friend is going to adore it!

Anorina @SameliasMum said...

It's lovely.

SuperMomNoCape said...

The oven mitt turned out great. For that inside seam... you could turn it inside-out again and then zigzag over the seam to prevent it from fraying.

Lisa said...

So pretty! Love the mix of patterns you picked. I've always wanted to make some of these and I need to do it one day.

méri said...

I wish I have the patience of doing so many seams... I love patchwork and quilting but never tried YET! :)
(another comment for you)

Carrie P. said...

that is so pretty and hopefully your friend will not burn herself anymore.

JoJo said...

WOW! I love it! The fabric is gorgeous and it's way too beautiful to use!

Pam @Threading My Way said...

I agree with the comment above... too beautiful to use!!! Your friend must have been pleases.