Makeover Monday -- Doily Potholders

I love vintage doilies!  My great-grandmother made beautiful doilies, and it’s a talent that simply was not passed down to me.  I have tried to crochet, and it has always ended up as a disastrous mess.    I was so excited to find some crocheted (thread) potholders.

I knew I didn’t want to use these at potholders…I value my fingers too much to rely on two layers of thread for heat protection…but these were just so cute!

So I got to thinking that these would make cute coin purses.  I didn’t think I needed to line the inside since they were “lined” with that second layer of crochet intended to protect fingers.

What I used:

·         Crochet Potholder – green/pink potholder (about 6" around) was $0.29 and the green potholder (about 5" around) was $0.65 at local thrift shop

·         Closure – 4” zipper was $1.49 and coin purse clasp was $3.99

·         Thread, Needle, & Scissors

Steps:

1         Hand-wash the potholders and dry

2         Attach the closure.
Pink & Green/Zippered purse:  I tried adding the zipper with the sewing machine.  However, I decided to take that out and attach the zipper by hand using a blind stitch.  Since there was such a distinct backing (white part that was becoming the inside of the purse), I decided to just blind stitch the whole thing.  It really didn’t take very long because the item was so small.

Green/Clasp purse:  I hand-sewed the clasp on (there are holes around the edge to attach the purse to the clasp). 

3         I looked through my button collection.  I decided to add an old key to the green purse.  I thought it just needed a little extra somethin’-somethin’.

Total time:

I made them both in about two hours—while I was half watching TV.  It really was a super simple project.  I think that they are cute.  What do you think?