Tutorial: Pot Holder Mitt - not a glove

It dawned on me this afternoon, that for the last six years, I've never once purchased or used a pot holder, seriously. Maybe that's one of the reasons I always end up hurting myself in the kitchen, hmmm... Anyway, I decided it was time to finally start using one. And because I'm quite certain I would never be able to find exactly what I wanted for a price I was willing to pay, I decided I must make my pot holder mitt. I wanted to be able to slide my hand inside of something, but I didn't want it to be one of those big bulky gloves - I just don't like those. I also wanted it to double as a table trivet, and use up some of the insanely large mistake purchase of commercial grade insulated batting. That batting is the reason I had such a hard time with the lunch bag project (well one of the reasons at least). I also didn't want to spend a dime. Wow, what a list of demands! I did it though, and this is what I ended up with....

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The super thick batting made it a bit tricky with the biased tape, but other than that, it was pretty easy. If you would like to make one for yourself, this is how I did it...

What you need:
plain paper (to make your pattern)
Insulated batting (or a couple old towels)
Cotton fabric of your choice, and enough to cover both sides
Biased tape - 1 pkg
Quilting Pins
Fabric marker or chalk
Coordinating thread

Ok, here we go!

First make your pattern with the plain paper. I used one 8" x 9" and one 8" x 3.75"(you will cut two of these). You don't have to make the pattern, but it will make things a lot easier later on.

I just wanted to share with you the incredibly LARGE piece of insulted batting I bought a while back. Definitely the wrong stuff, yup. But, it still works and I'm determined to use it all up. Ideas anyone???

Lay out your pattern pieces on the batting, and draw around them, adding a half inch to all sides. You will need enough for 1 of the large pattern pieces, and 2 of the smaller ones.

Next, place your batting on top of the wrong side of your fabric.

Fold the fabric over the batting so that the wrong sides are touching. Cut out the fabric around the sandwiched batting.

Using quilting pins, pin the material to the batting, all the way threw, and make sure it's still sandwiching the batting.

Now you need to make your stitching lines to give it a quilted look, and to hold everything in place. I made diagonal lines every 1.5" and used my clear ruler as a guide to keep it even. Do this over the entire piece.

Now sew along the lines, removing the pins as you go. Just a word of caution, as you get further down your fabric strip, don't rotate the direction that you're sewing in, or you could get fabric bunching that just wouldn't look so pretty.

This is what it should look like when you're done.

Now take your pattern pieces, and cut out 1 large piece, and 2 of the smaller pieces. It should look like this.

Next, grab your biased tape. I took a picture of mine because it made me a little sad to open it up. This and the striped fabric were gifts from Granny Grace. Thank you!

Pin and then sew on the biased tape to the meeting edges on both small pieces.

Line up the edges of the smaller pieces with the large piece so that it looks like this.

Sew along all of the outer edges. You're almost done!

Pin and sew your biased tape around all of the outer edges. Be sure to add half an inch extra when you start so you can fold it under at the end and there won't be exposed seams.

That's it! It does it's job as a pot holder, and as a trivet when placed flat on the table. And, I didn't spend a dime. Again, if you don't have batting, just grab an old towel and make 2 to 3 layers depending on how thick it is, and use that as batting.

Take Care!