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. 

Finally Finished: Casserole Carrier

Bell are ringing

Bird are chirping

The alleluia is at full blast

I'm happy to announce that I am finally finished with my most recent project. It's a casserole carrier. We go to a few cookouts in the winter months and numerous ones in the summer. I saw this and was inspired to make one for myself.

Here's the final product. Isn't it pretty?

The fabric is from JoAnn Fabric and I used Insul-Bright as instructed. During all of the sewing I noticed I didn't have flannel to make the straps thick. I had extra fleece from my love blanket so I used that instead. She says to double up the flannel but I just used single fleece.

I also made mine slightly different since I wanted long pieces to wrap around. I ended up using a lot of velcro. It makes a nice sturdy seal so no heat will be escaping.

I did end up spending lots of time with my seam ripper. I had to rip our the top stitching because I ran out of thread. Then more seam ripping because I put on the one handles wrong. I accidentally ripped out the correct handle so then I had to put that back on. OMG, so much seam ripping. I thought I would never finish.

Anyone who is new to sewing, I tell them to just start sewing. If you mess up, just tear it out! Anyway, I live by that when I sew. I do try to minimize the ripping, but it usually doesn't ruin your project if you sew something wrong. Just rip it out and try again.

The result of all the ripping and sewing is this beauty. I honestly want to make another since I now have the hang of it. It would make a great bridal shower gift!!

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