Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Canning: Crazy Quilt Jar Lids

Canning and jamming season is upon us!

If you love making jam and other delicious gifts from your kitchen, you may also be interested in learning to make these crazy quilt jar lids. They're easy to put together, and make a nice finishing touch for any jars of goodies you plan to give away.

The first step is to start with a small fabric scrap, sew another small scrap to it, and keep adding until your piece of fabric is large enough to cover the jar lid. I'm new to crazy quilting, but the main "trick" I've found is that you need to sew straight edge to straight edge. So once I've sewn two mismatched scraps together, I decide which edge I want to add onto next, and trim that edge so it's in a straight line before adding the next fabric piece. When you're done sewing, iron your finished piece.
Choose the jars you plan to use.
Using your jar lid as a pattern, cut out a circle of thin cardboard for each lid. Note I have two different sizes here, one regular mason lid size and two wide-mouth.









Using any batting scraps you may have, cut batting into same size as your jar lids.






Glue batting circles onto cardboard circles. I used a hot glue gun which worked well, but make sure not to glob on the glue around the edges. Your finished lid needs to fit snugly into the jar ring when you're done, and bunches of glue will make the lid too bulky to properly screw onto the jar.
You may notice I start with three jar lids and in my end pictures I wind up with only two finished products. Glue globs. Ugh.
I say it again: use hot glue sparingly.


Put your lid over your fabric scrap, minding the placement so it catches your favorite part of the crazy quilt design. Draw right on the fabric; using ink pen is fine as you will cut on this line, and eventually it will be hidden under the jar ring anyway.

Cut out your fabric circles. Put glue around the edges and stick to the top of the batting.

Again, I used hot glue here and wish I had used a little less. Maybe white glue is worth a try next time.
Now slip those babies into jar rings and they're ready to go! If you're using jams or other jars of produce you've canned, there will already be a lid on the jar, of course, so you won't be needing these flat lids shown here. But if you're using the lids on jars that have not been canned (like the empty jars here) you will place the flat lid on the jar, then screw your cute little jar lid onto the top.
I hope you give these a try. Despite the length of the instructions, they really are simple to make. Sew, cut, glue. Let me know if you have questions, or suggestions, or pictures of your finished jar lids that we can all come and coo over.
Happy canning season!
Note: For more tips and ideas, check out Works-for-me-Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

15 Comments:

Blogger Carpool Queen said...

Now if I could just make jam that didn't separate, we'd be okay.

June 10, 2009 at 10:36 AM  
Blogger Becky said...

What a great way to use up fabric scraps!

June 10, 2009 at 11:54 AM  
Blogger Lori said...

You go girl!! This is so neato! What a great idea! And you did a good job with the photos and the tutorial!
LOVE those rainbow letters too! ;)

June 10, 2009 at 12:28 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Carpoolqueen, you can do it! Just follow the directions on the pectin package and you'll be fine.

Becky, thanks for stopping by. It's good to meet you.

And Lori, thanks for the kind words. And I agree, aren't those rainbow letters neat? A very generous blogger taught me how to do them ;)

June 10, 2009 at 2:02 PM  
Anonymous Katy said...

Very clever and special to dress up a homemade jar of preserve. Just a lovely finishing touch.

June 10, 2009 at 4:34 PM  
Blogger Moore Minutes said...

CUTE idea!!! Thank you

June 10, 2009 at 5:18 PM  
Blogger Sandra said...

What a neat idea. I love them!! Putting quilting and canning jars together is a good homey gift.

June 10, 2009 at 7:06 PM  
Blogger VK said...

I think I'll make some jam or pickles just so I can use some cute fabric scraps on them.
Good inspiration.
Now, about those rainbow letters? We should be able to find a blog guild or class or club to share all our different ideas. (I think I would only be receiving the ideas)

June 10, 2009 at 8:27 PM  
Blogger Domestically Inclined said...

Nice tutorial! Great gift giving accent. "Nice to meet you too" *bowing* I used to live in Northern CA in Redding. Too hot there for me now...in North Idaho now.

June 11, 2009 at 7:42 AM  
Blogger Julie Bagamary said...

These are beautiful and a clever idea.

June 11, 2009 at 1:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is such a clever idea, Lynn. But, I have too many older relatives who, if they received homemade jam in a jar with a cute little patchwork lid that I had made, I'm afraid it would be too much for their hearts! So, in the interest of not rushing the demise of any relatives, I think I'll just admire these from afar! :)

But they are very cute.

June 13, 2009 at 2:38 PM  
Blogger Marta said...

Oh what a lovely idea!!!! I adore canning but the most decorating I ever did was to wrap a bow around the jar... this is so much better!!!
Thanks for the great tips!!!

June 13, 2009 at 3:50 PM  
Blogger Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

That is totally cute! Thank you for leading me to this post. I am going to have to remember this as we have TONS of fabric scraps that need to be put to good use, and I agree. I think it would be so cute with the cakes-in-jars. Thanks for your visit to my blog! Hope to see you around soon!

June 23, 2009 at 6:54 PM  
Blogger HOPE said...

Hi Lynn...thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your sweet comment.

I love this idea for canned goods! Now why didn't I think of this??

Now I know what to do with all those extra triangles I ...accidently made!!

HOPE~

June 25, 2009 at 7:13 PM  
Blogger Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

This is such a cute idea! Great job on these.

July 1, 2009 at 11:44 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home