Sugar Skull/ Pride Skulls Potholders

Hey ghouls and creeps! As a personal challenge, I wanted to see if I could come up with a block pieced together to look like a skull measuring 3″ X 3″ (when finished). I’ve always had an attraction to miniature objects, and really thought it would be cute to have potholders with little pieced multi-colored skulls. These potholders would be great for Dia de los Muertos festivities, to display your support of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, or to just add some color to your home decor!

Step 1: Cutting Fabric: Begin by cutting your material to the dimensions below. Important side note: WOF means width of fabric.

Step 2: Quilt Block Assembly: Important to note before getting started: all seam allowances are 1/4″.

Take two 1 5/8″ X 1 1/8″ pieces each of the silver solid and of your multi-colored fabric. Lay a transparent ruler diagonally across the pieces from corner to corner. To add seam allowance, cut 1/4″ from the true diagonal of the piece, making sure to mirror the angle if your fabric has an obvious right side. In the end, you will want two of each side, so you’ll have one for each skull block.

Sew these pieces together diagonally, matching opposite corners so that when the piece is unfolded it forms a rectangle. Make two of these where the solid occupies the top left corner of the rectangle, and another two where the solid occupies the top right corner (refer to images below).

Take the 1 5/8″ X 1 5/8″ multi-colored squares and sew two mirrored rectangles that you just pieced together on either side.

Sew two solid 1 5/8″ X 1 1/8″ pieces on opposite ends of your pieced rows. Moving on to the second row, use two solid 1 1/8″ X 7/8″ pieces and sew these on opposite sides of your multi-colored 1 1/8″X 7/8″ piece. Repeat this step for your second skull block. Sew two 1 5/8″ X 1 1/8″ multi-colored pieces on the bottom of both eye groupings.

Construct the side temples of the skulls by sewing together four sets of 1 5/8″ X 1 1/8″ pieces, using one solid one multi-colored piece. Sew the temples to the eyes, making sure to have multi-colored side nearest the center. You can now sew together your first and second rows! Make sure to match up seams, refer to the image below for piece orientation.

For the final row, take the multi-colored 1 5/8″ X 7/8″ piece and sew to your solid 1 5/8″ X 5/8″ piece. Then take the multi-colored 1 5/8″ X 1 1/8″ piece and sew to the opposite side from the 1 5/8″ X 7/8″ piece of the solid. Take this pieced square and sew two solid 1 5/8″ X 1 5/8″ pieces on either side of the jaw piece. Revisit previous steps to make jaw for the second skull block.

You can now sew the last rows to the other two rows of your blocks! You now have two completed skull blocks! Repeat these piecing steps to make the skulls with your other four colors.

I found that my edges of my finished skull blocks were a little wonky, so I took this moment to square of my blocks to measure 3 1/2″ X 3 1/2″.

Take your 3 1/2″ X 3 1/2″ solid squares and alternate these with your skull blocks in a checkerboard layout. Sew individual rows together first, and then sew rows to rows second.

Step 3: Prepping for Quilting: Take your completed potholder tops, Insul-Brite, and potholder backing material and create a fabric sandwich. Lay potholder backing face down, then the Insul-Brite, and then the potholder tops face up on top. You will notice that there is excess of the Insul-Brite and backing around the perimeter of the potholder top this is to allow for migration when quilting together layers. Pin or baste layers together to keep in place.

Step 4: Quilting Your Potholders: For my quilting design I stitched in the ditch of the seams joining my 3 3/4″ squares to start.

Then to break up the solid squares I applied some stitching for visual texture. Find the center of the side nearest the outside edge of each solid square, mark this point as a reference with a pin, disappearing ink, or chalk. Also locate on both the right and left sides of the squares (the outside edge is the top of your square) 3/4″ up from the bottom (or side of square nearest the center block).

Start from the point along the outside edge and stitch toward the point on the right side of the square, then to the point on the left side, then back to the starting point on the outside. Repeat these steps for all four solid squares. When finished, this should produce four triangles radiating from the center skull block.

Locate the middle of the sides of the center sugar skull block, and measure out from these points into the solid squares 1 1/2″ and mark for reference. Ultimately you’ll want to use these points as the corners of a square that you’ll be quilting into your potholder. I used the corners of the center skull block to keep my stitch line straight from point to point.

Step 5: Binding Your Potholders: Take a binding strip and fold the corner to make a forty-five-degree angle, and finger press to leave a line. Lay this strip on top of another binding strip, making a ninety-degree-angle. Sew along your finger pressed line, and cut off excess leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Connect enough binding strips together to measure at least 43″ in length, fold binding in half lengthwise and press with an iron.

With a 3/8″ seam allowance, sew your binding beginning at the top left corner of the potholder. When you near a corner, discontinue sewing 3/8″ from the potholder edge, and lift the presser foot. Fold back binding to make a forty-five-degree angle, and then fold the binding back over top aligning fold with the previous edge. Continue sewing the next side, starting right at the corner. Repeat these steps until you reach the beginning of the bind.

Once you reach the top left corner of the potholder, fold back binding on other side so that it lines up with the stitch line made to attach binding on the back side. Sew past the potholder edge five inches, continuing with a 3/8″ seam allowance. This binding extension will eventually be the hanging loop.

Fold binding around raw edge to back side of potholder, pin, then slip stitch in place. Slip stitch binding all the way around the potholder up until the hanging loop.

Fold hanging loop extension along stitch line, fold extension again in half lengthwise and press. Unfold extension and fold end corners to center and top down, as shown in photo below. Fold extension in half again making sure all raw edges are concealed.

Stitch folds together making sure to catch both sides. Fold extension so that the end lays against the back of the potholder, but to the side of the other binding to reduce bulk. Pin end in place, and slip stitch around the end with short stitches to anchor adequately.

Use your new potholders as hand protectors when you have a hot bowl of soup, as oversized mug rugs, as colorful decor to add a pop to your kitchen, or of course for removing hot items from the oven. These babies are truly multi-purpose, and really freakin’ cute!

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!