Wrapped Clothes Line Tutorial

 Here is the long awaited instructions to make the wrapped clothes line coasters, baskets and more. Well I am going to start with the coaster anyway.

You will need1"  strips of fabric cut from selvage end to selvage end. Work with just one strip at a time. You will sew the strips together one at a time and only when you get to the end of each strip. 

Lay the clothes line end at an angle on a 1" wrong side strip of fabric. See photo below.

 

Wrap the end around the clothes line end just to cover the end. It dose not need to be perfect as if there is a bit of fabric nub at the end, this will fill in the center of coil. So don't fret over perfection on this. 

 

  Wrap the all of the first fabric strip and pin at the end to hold in place. Sew a straight stitch from the beginning of the clothes line down about 6"-7". This will hold the beginning wrappings in place and make it easier to work with in the beginning.

Coil the beginning of the fabric wrapped clothes line till you have 4-6 coil wrap, hang on to it with all available fingers as it will unroll faster then you can blink.

Once you have it all together and in place the way you want it, sew a straight sticth "X" across the center of all the coils. This will help you to hold it all in place before you begin zig-zaging the rows together. Also this will save you from sewing your fingers to your project! As you can see it is very small at this point and your fingers are up close and personal with the needle.

 

Beginning at the center of the coil, zig-zag, set your machine on the widest zig-zag stitch in the center of where the coil rows meets. See picture below. Your pressure foot should be in the center of the coil rows and your needle will catch each side of the row, attaching the  rows together. TIP: Use the shade of thread that matches the most alike colors in your fabric swatches. Have lots of thread available as this will use lots of thread, well depending on the size of project you make.

 Here is a close up of where you pressure foot should be. You just sew in circles from here on out. At least you are not skating in circles and making yourself dizzy... but by the time you get to the end of this crazy tutorial you may be dizzy anyway!

 Coil till you get to the end of fabric then sew on the next strip. Just lay the fabric strip on top of the end overlapping, no need to make a pretty seam (you don't want the bulk of a seam any way) Don't worry about hiding the ends, remember you cut from selvage to selvage. However if you are using scraps and the ends are not the salvage ends.... just sew it as you would if it was. No worry about fraying - it is gonna fray anyway. Rap the fabric strip around the clothes line and pin it at the end to hold in place. Coil and zig-zag around till you meet the end of your fabric strip.  Add another strip of fabric, wrap, coil, sew, add another strip, wrap, coil, sew and so on and so forth till you have it the size you want it.

To finish off: cut the clothes line about 1" - 1 1/2" shorter then the end of the fabric. 

Rap the fabric around to the end of line and continue turning fabric around on its self till you are at the end.

 

Zig-zag the rows together till you have run out of rows, then make one last row around securing all loose ends on the other row. I also find that this helps the last row from fraying.  To make a coaster sew about 7-9 rows from center. It is up to you how big you want or need it. For pot holders/hot pads you would just add more strips of fabric to make more rows.

 

I hope you can understand this- but remember if you need help just leave a comment so everyone can learn from the comments and questions. I will continue with this tutorial in the near futrue to show you how to make a basket. But this will get you started. Enjoy and happy wrapping!