The Inside Scoop on Insul Bright Thermal Batting

Oven mitts, hot pads, and casserole covers are popular projects using Insul-Bright Thermal Batting from The Warm Co. We started using Insul-Bright a few years ago and discovered the real scoop on the product. We do love it but there are some tips you should know.
The biggest tip is really ironic ---- don't iron or press it too much. We discovered this by pressing a layer of Insul-Bright onto cotton fabric during one of our sewing projects. Then we pressed them -- mostly out of habit to simply press everything. With a really hot iron, the Insul-Bright seems to shrink up a bit causing the cotton fabric to distort or ripple.
Insul-Bright reflects heat back from a its layer of metalized polyester film sandwiched between layers of polyester fibers. It's meant for holding onto hot things from the oven for rather brief periods of time, not the firm, intense heat of an iron. So if you need to iron/press any part of a project containing Insul-Bright, go lightly and it will solve the problem. 

These oven mitt panels have fusible web on the back side. Fuse them to the Insul-Bright lightly -- 3 to 4 seconds per spot.

The other curious thing about Insul-Bright is one layer is not enough to protect you from the heat source. Even they say so. You can use one layer of Insul-Bright on the 'back of hand' and 'thumb side' of an oven mitt, but in the 'mouth' part (the part of an oven mitt that comes into contact with a heat source and protects you from it), you should always use two layers. The Warm Co. recommends using one layer of Insul-Bright and one layer of cotton batting like Warm 'n Natural Cotton Batting. It is fine to do so, but when writing my patterns, it is too much of a hassle to write in this extra feature. So in the case of an oven mitt, I just have you cut two layers of Insul-Bright and it works fine. 
You might ask 'why not use two layers on all panels?' --- well, it simply gets too think to sew all the layers together.

Some other helpful suggestions. 1-Insul-Bright does not have a right or wrong side. 2-You can pre-wash it, but I never do and it seems fine. It does wash well inside your oven mitt if you choose to wash them. 3-You can not use Insul-Bright for microwave projects and is too noisy for clothing. 4- But the noisy part of Insul-Bright can make interesting stuffed toys or soft books for babies. 5- Use zig zag stitching for sewing layers together -- it smashes down the edges so the seams allowances are easier to work with, especially if you are sewing bias binding around the edges. 6-Set your cut oven mitt panels on the sheet of Insul-Bright and use the panels as templates to cut out your Insul-Bright.

Use the oven mitt panels as templates instead of the paper templates -- a much simpler and neater method.

Bulletin Board - free tutoria!

 Collect Your Wits! bulletin board!

This bulletin board is great to have around and fairly easy to make. I made it in about 2 hours - and that is with taking all the pics for the blog. So it should go pretty fast for you too!

Here we go:

 Materials needed:

   - Use either a sheet of 20" x 30 foam core bulletin board (found at craft stores) OR three sheets of 20" x 30" foam core (taped together).
   - Main fabric - actual fabric should be 25" x 35" but if you have a large print as shown in our project, you might want to purchase an extra 1/4 yard so that you have enough fabric to center the print (our example, the medallion) in the 20"x30" piece of foam core.
    - Trim fabric - 1/3 yard of 60" wide fabric.
    - Other: coordinating thread, strapping tape. 



            

 Step One:

  Place the core board on the print side of the main print fabric. Use the print to calculate and center align the board. When satisfied with its alignment, mark 

2 1/2" around all four edges. Then cut out your main print on the mark line.  

Step Two:

Cut two trim pieces at 26" x 10". With right sides together, fold in half lengthwise and press. You can see from the picture above how they 

will eventually align to the board.

 Step Three:

 Notice the medallion is in the middle.

Re-align the main print fabric to the core board. Temporarily, fold the edges to the back and temporarily, tape (scotch tape will do) the edges 

of the fabric to the back side.

 Step Four:

  Pockets! Cut two pocket pieces at 8"x 14" 

AND two pocket trim pieces at 2 1/2" by 8". 

With right sides together, align the trim piece to one short end of a pocket piece. Sew this edge with a 1/4" seam allowance. Notice the pocket piece has the center crease mark pressed. Bring the other 8" edge of the pocket piece, with right sides together, to the other edge of the pocket trim piece 

and sew in place.

 Step Five:

Press seam allowances toward the trim. Then perfectly align the two trim seams together. That folds the pocket in half. Press. The mark the edges of the pocket as shown above -- which is a slight 1/8" angle on the side edges  --- full width at the top and graduated in 1/8" at the bottom as shown by the red arrows. Cut on the mark lines. This allows the pocket to have some convex at the top of the pocket (1/4" does not seem like very much but it is enough!).

 Step Six:

Now sew the side seams with a 1/2" seam allowance. Make sure you leave an opening (red arrow) on one side for turning the pocket right side out.

 Step Seven:

Turn right side out and press.

 Step Eight:

 Temporarily align the side trim on the side of the board (2 1/2" wide). Align the pockets with your desired location on the board. For my board,  I aligned the pockets about 1" away from the trim ((the right edge (red arrow) perfectly parallel)). Pin in place. Now remove the trim and remove 

the main fabric from the board to sew the pockets on.

Step Nine:

With coordinating thread, top stitch around the pocket. Start on the right edge, sew down, and then along the bottom and then to the left edge   -- but, as you start up the left up, be sure to bring in the top of the pocket 1/4" (where the red arrow is). Hold it in place as you sew up the left side. This adjustment helps the pocket have some convex or fuller at the top edge, making it easier to use.

 Step Ten:

 Re-align the main fabric to the core board. Tape in place 

with strapping tape on the back side.

Step Eleven:

Align the folded and pressed trim on side edges of the board. The space between the two red arrows should be 2 1/2" with equal amounts 

of trim off the ends. Pin in place.

 Step Twelve:

Bring the trim to the back side and tape in place with strapping tape.

 You're Done!

Your Collect Your Wits bulletin board is now done. Yeah!!

Bonnie Christine on CreativeLive.

So I spent three days with Bonnie Christine talking about 'Surface Pattern Design' on CreativeLive. Bonnie did a great job and I love CreativeLive.
Bonnie is a fabric designer for Art Gallery, and her fabric is featured in our pattern 'Sew ImPressed' (P209). She obviously has a whole range of talents which are very impressive. Watch out Martha Stewart!

Bonnie Christine's online class for Surface Pattern Design

The collar on the Dude Baby bib!

Several sewers have had questions about the collar on Dude Babies (P189). Since you sew the layers of the collar on one at a time, it is a bit different than traditional methods of sewing collars onto a main panel). So here's some pics that might help!

With right sides together, align the collars to the prepared bib panel (both layers sewn rst, turn rso, press, align the prepared tie in the center of the bib arrangement). Make sure there are loose 1/4" seam allowances in the very center. Sew the edges as shown in the above picture with 1/4" sas. 

Fold a collar up and press   - with seam allowances down.

With right sides together, align another collar piece as shown above, pin. Sew around the edges - notice the red thread seams (leave the bib section open for later hand sewing).

Remove pins. Clip corners. Turn right side out.

Repeat for the other side.

Make one very precise 1/4" cut in the very center (the brown fabric only).

Fold the raw edge of the open part under and hand sew from the center to the pink arrow.

Of course, you do this for right and left sides of the collar!!