CUTTING

Step 1: From BOTH your outside and inside fabrics, cut one 24" square. 

The easiest way to do this is to first cut a 24" length of your fabric, open it up, and then fold over one side diagonally. Cut where the fabric’s raw edge is lying on the rest of the fabric (green arrow). Your diagonally folded piece will be approximately 24" square. 

CUTTING THE CIRCLE

Step 2: Take the ruler (should be at least 12" long), and position the “0” corner of the ruler on the center of your folded square. Mark the 12" point at the outer edge of your folded piece. Continue marking that same 12" point by moving the ruler up, while keeping the “0” point at the same spot. (see images below). 

Step 3: You marked the quarter circle on your folded piece. Cut on the marked line and your quilted piece is now a circle about 24" in diameter. 

QUILT YOUR PIE CARRIER

Step 4: Take your two 24" squares of fabrics and your piece 

of batting and baste them together using your favorite method. I prefer spray basting, specially for smaller projects like this. TIP: if spray-basting, it is easier to spray the batting and then roll-out and smooth your fabric on top of it. 

Step 5: To secure it and for final smooth-out, use dry iron and go over the basted “sandwitch”. 

Quilting can be as simple as straight lines or crosshatch or as elaborate as you wish. This project is also a great way to practice your quilting! 

MARK THE PLACES FOR THE HANDLES

Step 6: As your circle is still folded in quarters, simply mark the small line at every fold, using a water-soluble marker or simply place pins on those folds. Fold the quarter-circle one more time (to form the “eights” and mark on those folds as well. You have now marked around your circle at 8 equally distanced places (see green asterixes in the photo below). Those are the marks for placement of your handles.

MAKE THE HANDLES

Step 7: From the leftover fabric you have (either color, your choice), cut following strips: 

• FOUR strips that are 3" x 12" 
• TWO strips that are 3" x 20" 

Step 8: With all the strips, do the following steps to form the handles: 

fold each strip lengthwise, WRONG sides together and press open the strip, and now fold the outer long edge to the fold you just created and press repeat with the other long side and press, fold the whole strip again lengthwise along the first fold you made - you now have a folded strip with no raw edges exposed 

Step 9: Stitch along both long edges of the strip to form the handle - you will have 4 short and 2 long handles 

ATTACH SHORT HANDLES TO THE PIE CARRIER

Step 10: Take your four shorter handle strips and place them on the inside fabric of your Pie carrier matching the handle ends with the marks (or pins) you created around the perimeter. If you opted to have D-rings on your Pie carrier, slip a D-ring on each handle before securing them to the Pie carrier. 

Step 11: Secure the short end of handles with pins or you can baste them in place with stitches. Handle placement should look like shown on the photo below. With handles secured, now is the time to attach the binding around the raw edge of the Pie carrier. Attach the binding using your favorite way of doing that. In the photo below the pre-made, Double-fold binding is used. 

Step 12: Take one long handle strip and thread it through the two adjecent short handles and then stitch the short ends of the handle together. Repeat with the other long handle and two remaining short handles . NOTE: If you are using D-rings, you would thread the short end of the long handle strip through the D ring, fold it over and stitch to secure. 

With that, your Pie carrier is done! Time to make a pie and take it to the summer picnic!!