Finishing Our Welcome Mats

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to finishing week! Are you ready to finish your welcome mat(s)? We sure are!

Whether you decide to whip stitch or hem your project you always want to remember you're going to start the process the same. You should have already taken your project off of the frame and you will notice that it doesn't lay flat when you put it down. That's fine, don't you fret! Here's what we are going to do! 

  1.You're going to get an iron and turn it on, DO NOT ADD WATER and turn the setting to the cotton setting (no steam). 

2.Get a towel nice and damp. You will want to wring out the excess water from it.

3.Lay your project flat on an ironing board or another towel and lay the damp towel on top so it covers it completely

 5.Move the iron around the project, pressing down for 10-15 seconds on each spot. 

This process is known as steam pressing. You want to steam press your work because the steam helps the fibers to relax and bloom nicely. It will make your finished piece look that much better. 

Next you're going to want to measure 2" around the whole piece. You can make markings, and (now this BLEW MY MIND) if you're like us and you traced with the thread of the monk's cloth, you only need to make small marks for the 2". Then you can take your scissors and cut the corners and then PULL THE THREAD AT THE 2" MARK! WHAT!?!?! Seriously, when Heidi told me this I thought my head was going to explode from the sheer genius of it! Here I've been measuring and making lines and cutting on those lines like a fool! A FOOL! Anywho, Pull those threads and then cut off your excess monk's. 

Once you have cut away all the excess fabric, you're ready for finishing techniques, either hemming, or in the case of Cotey, Sid, and me: whip stitching. I am going to apologize in advice for having NO PICTURES of hemming, but it really isn't my fault. Heidi and Christy, who decided to hem theirs, did it when I wasn't there and they took no pictures! Ladies... come on! I will get hemming pictures with our next project. Promise! In the meantime, Amy has an amazing tutorial on hemming on our youtube channel. I've also added a quick video on our instagram of Heidi hemming a personal project she did. It will be in our tutorial highlight, as well as on our feed. 

I did however, get pictures of both Cotey and I whip stitching our mats, and  being masochists, we decided to make it tough on ourselves. Cotey took her two pieces and made them into a pillow, whip stitching it together. 

I decided to extend my checkerboard effect with my whipping, alternating the colors as I went. It was a pain. 

It was worth it though. I loved the way both of mine came out. Cotey's pillow, which she said was also a pain to do, turned out beautifully and is actually a really nice and squishy pillow. 

I reposted Cotey's video on whip stitching on Instagram, you can watch it by visiting our feed or click the highlight for Tutorials or #OxCoPALs

In fact, everyone's projects came out incredibly nicely. It is amazing to me how different they each look. They have small glimmers of the same pattern, but they take on each of our personalities. 

However.... I am not going to show you the finished projects yet! That will have to wait until next week, and we have all finished hemming or whipping our projects! Let me jut tell you though, they are all GORGEOUS! 

Check back next week for the final reveals of our Welcome Mats and make sure you are are using the hashtag #OxCoPALs and/or tagging us @amy.oxford in your projects so we can see them! The ones that have been posted are each amazing and making me want to do another one!