What's Cookin'?

Have you ever made a hot dish or casserole for a potluck party or picnic, but just didn't know how to get it there without a) burning yourself, b) spilling it everywhere, c) letting it get cold, or d) all of the above? I have just the solution! Here is yet another trendy way to carry your dish to a party without all of the aforementioned mishaps.

This is yet another amazing design from One Yard Wonders. Have I mentioned how awesome this book is? I was also inspired by MissK's very own casserole carrier. I wanted one, too!

The construction is fairly simple. Just get yourself one yard of cute fabric, a yard of Insul-Bright or similar product, a package of 1/2 inch and 7/8 inch bias tape, and drawstring, and you're ready to go!

You cut 4 big circles- 17 inches in diameter- from the cute fabric. That's 8.5 inches in radius. The way I did it (because I didn't own a plate that large- thank goodness!) was to pin my soft tape measure in the center of the 'circle', then use a disappearing fabric marker to eke out little dashed lines in a circle where I wanted it. I cut out two, then used one as a template for everything else (easy!). You cut 2 circles out of the insulation, then 2 handles from insulation and 4 from the cute fabric.

Then you basically make an insulated sandwich, using the cute fabric as the 'bread' and the insulated fabric as the 'filling' (can you tell I'm hungry? I'm starting to want Oreos!). You baste all of this together. Then you take the top piece and cut a 6-inch diameter hole in it. Cut the doughnut in half and baste the raw edges.

Next comes the bias tape. Use the skinny stuff on the straight edges, and the big stuff on everything curvy. Be sure to leave space in the inner doughnut hole to thread your drawstring through. Make sure you've trimmed your handles before this- otherwise it'll look weird.

In the book, it says to 'turn the tape to the wrong side and press'. I was a little confused by that- basically, it means that at the ends where you want the drawstring to go through, you don't want any raw edges, so turn the tape back on itself to make a nice neat end. I'm not sure if I folded it correctly, though, because I still ended up having to trim off some of the tape that was sticking out. Other 'goofs' included me having a hard time bending the bias tape to fit the edges- it kept bunching up on me under the needle. I eventually got frustrated and just let the sewing machine have its way, but if anyone has suggestions for me, I would appreciate them!

Whoops- looks crinkled now.

Also, what do you think about the fabric? I originally thought 'party!' when I saw it...but once I put the whole thing together, I was worried that it might be too loud or garish. Thoughts? Opinions?

Pretty or woah?

PS: This thing is HUGE...I fit my casserole dish in here with a lot of room to spare.