Abakhan Kitchen Project on a Budget

Hi! I'm Janice from Better Off Thread and I will be showing you how to make this month's Abakhan "Projects on a Budget". I am so honored to have been chosen and very excited to receive $20 worth of products from Abakhan (thank you, William!).

Today, I will show you how to make a magnetic sign for your dishwasher:

This dishwasher sign has come in very handy at my house, because at least once a week my husband tries to help me with the dishes and he puts dirty ones in the with the clean. I bet you can guess what happens then. I HAD to make this for the sake of our marriage!

You are going to be paper-piecing letters on one side of the sign and doing raw edge applique on the other. If you haven't done either of these before, it's the perfect way to start! Don't worry, it isn't as difficult as it looks. Paper-piecing looks intimidating, but it's really the Paint-by-Number of the quilting world. If you can count and sew along a straight line, you can paper-piece!

Here are the items you need for this project:

From Abakhan I recieved:

1 metre Cotton Poplin in Chartreuse 1 metre Cotton Poplin in Pistachio 1 metre Cotton Poplin in Midnight Muslin in Ivory Superstitch Thread in Jade 1 package magnetic strips (I was so excited that I ripped them open before I took the photo!)

I also used fusible web from my own supply, but Abakhan has it here.

You'll have enough fabric to make a zillion dishwasher signs for all your family and friends (Time to start getting on those holiday gifts!).

You will also need to print out two templates:

Clean template Dirty template

Begin by cutting 1.5" x WOF strips from each of your poplin fabrics and cut your "Clean" template apart along the red lines.

Grab a letter template and you can either crease along the black lines, or trace the lines on the back. You want to be able to see where to place your fabric. Sometimes I am able to see through the paper well enough, so I don't do anything (yeah, I'm a lazy sewer).

Now it's time to sew:

1.Place your fabric strip so it covers spot #1 on the template and hangs over 1/4" into section #2. 2.Place your second piece on top, so that you have a 1/4" seam allowance and pin. 3. Flip your template over and sew from the printed side. 4. Press flat.

If your seam allowances are more than 1/4", fold the paper template back and trim your seam allowance.

Once you have finished sewing your letter, cut the seam allowances around it to 1/4".

Look, you made a letter!

Once you have paper-pieced all your letters, you are going to sew them together and add a 1" strip of background fabric to the top and bottom.

One side down!

Sit down somewhere comfy and remove all the papers from the back. Gaze at your "Clean" sign, reward yourself with a cookie and then get back to work!

It's time to get DIRTY.

Take your "Dirty" template and trace it onto the paper side of fusible web.

I like to tape it to a window, like so:

Next, cut roughly around each letter.

Iron them to your cotton poplin following the manufacturer's instructions. cut out each letter along the pencil lines.

Cut a 5"x9" square from your background fabric and lay your letters out in a pleasing configuration. Iron, following the manufacturers instructions.

Topstitch around each letter in a contrasting thread.

You are now done with the second side! Time to make the inner layer.

You will be making a casing for your magnets to live in, so they stay in place. Cut 2 6"x10" rectangles from your muslin. On one piece, draw lines like in the photo above.

Put both muslin rectangles on top of each other and sew along the 1 vertical and the 6 horizontal lines. Do NOT sew along the seam allowance lines. Insert your magnets into the channels you created.

Note: If your magnets are directional, make sure they face the correct way, so that your sign sticks to the dishwasher! One needs to face one way and one the other. I cut the center one in half and faced them in opposite directions.

It will be easier to insert your magnets, if you round off one end with scissors.

Now, put all your layers together. The "Clean" and "Dirty" sides should be placed upside down from each other, so that they each have a magnet along the top that will stick to the dishwasher. (It will make more sense when you are putting the layers together).

Use a machine basting stitch to sew all your layers together about 1/8" from the edges. Trim to 5"x9".

This is a great time to put your sign up on your dishwasher and test it out. Make sure all your magnets are facing the right way. You may need to add magnets to the 4 corners, depending on the weight of your fabric and the size of your seam allowances. You can always cut one magnet into 4 smaller pieces and slide them into each corner.

Next, draw horizontal lines 1/2" apart using a fabric marking pen or chalk (like photo above). Make sure your lines are not crossing any of your magnets. You don't want to try to sew through those!

I used my zipper foot, so I could sew right along the magnets without breaking my needle.

All quilted and ready for binding!

I am not going to show you how to do binding, because this is already a LONG tutorial and there are so many great binding tutorials out there already. I highly recommend using this single binding tutorial at Verykerryberry. It's perfect for smaller items like your dishwasher sign.

Cute, huh? Now get crackin' and sew one up for all your friends and family members. You won't just be making them a gift, you will be SAVING their marriage!

Thank you for having me as a guest, Lynne! It's been a pleasure.