Bowl Covers

The other day the preachers wife and I made some bowl covers.  In days gone by this was the type of thing ladies used to cover left overs and such before there was plastic wrap and tin foil.  I am not a fan of either of them, they cost money and are a pain to use, (foil and plastic wrap, that is) so I thought the old fashioned bowl covers would be just the ticket.

First we found some nice fabric and some bowls, lids and plates to use as templates.  Remembering that a using a large bowl to trace would result in a medium bowl cover we used a super large mixing bowl, a large plate and the cover from a large tub of ice cream.  I also wanted a cover for 9 X 13 pans so I used one of mine and traced around it adding about 2 inches on all sides. 

We then cut out two of each size we were making.  With wrong sides together we began sewing and stretching 1/4 inch elastic around the perimeter of the fabric using a stretch zig zag stitch.  We sewed the elastic about 1/4 inch inside the two layers of fabric.  Once the elastic was stretched and stitched I zig zagged along the very edge of the fabric so you would not be able to see the elastic.  I did not measure the elastic I just stretched it as I sewed and when I got to the place where I had started I cut it off and carefully stitched the end.

Do you have any easy frugal gifts you like to make?