Super Easy Potholder Tutorial

Just now realizing as I type this, there are few things more boring than reading a whole blog post about plain old pot holders. I mean potholders are great, but seriously, they are just not that interesting. So instead of telling you all about my pot holders, here’s a simple tutorial on how to make your own. This is a super easy and quick project that you can make even with minimal sewing experience. The potholders finish at about 7.5” square. So here we go…

Materials to make 2 hot pads:

• 1 fat quarter of insulated batting (available online and at craft stores like Joann’s)

• 1 fat quarter of main fabric

• About 1 fat quarter of binding fabric (you’ll have a large triangle left over)

• 5 safety pins

Steps:

1. Decide if you want one or two layers of batting. I like to do two for protection against extra hot surfaces (like the dutch oven after baking bread!), but one layer is fine for standard cookie sheet uses. Cut two 8.5” squares of insulated batting, or four if you want to double up the batting.

2. Cut four 8.5” squares of your main fabric.

3. Make the bias binding. Using a ruler with a 45 degree line, cut four 2.5” strips on the bias of your binding fabric.

Next, sew the four strips together along the bias edges, as demonstrated in the picture, and trim off the dog ears.

Then, take your long strip to the ironing board and fold it in half with the wrong sides together. Boom, bias binding. You’ll need about 64” inches of binding for two potholders. I only needed to use up half of my fat quarter to get 64”. For a detailed tutorial of how to do this check out this blog post by Amy from Diary of a Quilter.

4. Make the quilt sandwich. Place one main fabric square face down. Then, stack one (or two) squares of insulated batting on top. Finish by placing one more main fabric square face up on top.

5. Mark lines. Using water soluble ink, a Frixon erasable pen, a hera marker, or the dull side of a butter knife, mark lines on the diagonal across the top piece of fabric. I made my lines 1.5” apart. Then, mark lines the same distance apart going the opposite direction.

6. Secure layers. Place a safety pin through all three (or four) layers in the center. Make sure the fabric stays smooth and free of folds or wrinkles. Place the other four safty pins around the center one, this should keep the layers nice and secure for quilting.

7. Quilt it. Take the quilt sandwich to your sewing machine and sew along the marked lines. It’s best to do all the lines going one direction first. Start with a line in the center, then work your way out to the edge. Then, go back and do the lines on the other side of the center. Repeat for the lines going the other direction. If it helps, just follow the order of the numbered lines in the photo.

8. Trim. It’s totally okay if your quilt sandwich looks a little wonky, because the next step is to trim off the edges. Making sure the pot holder is straight, trim it down to a 7.5” square.

Sidenote : yes, the “fabric only!” note is totally necessary in my house. Scissors in our home disappear mysteriously and ridiculously often. I have to protect mine!

9. Round corners. Find a small, about 3 inches in diameter, circle object and use it to trace a rounded edge on each corner of the hot pad. (A small cup or candle or a large spool of thread works). Then cut along that line with scissors.

10. Attach binding. Take your folded-in-half bias strip and begin pinning it along the edge; the raw edge of the bias tape should be lined up with the raw edge of the potholder. Leaving about a 5” tail, put your first pin right before one of the corners. Then work your way carefully pinning around the whole pad, stretching the bias tape around the corners. Stop just after the 4th corner so you have one side of the square that is mostly unpinned.

11. Join the bias binding. Lay the two leftover tails that are hanging off along that last edge. Make a mark on each tail at the same spot. Cut the tail 1/4“ past that mark (the extra 1/4” is for the seam allowance). Open up the two tails and place them right-sides-together at the sewing machine. Line up the edges and sew a line 1/4” away from the edge. Next, press that seam allowance open with your finger. Finally, fold the bias strip back in half and pin the last edge to the potholder.

12. Sew on the binding. Sew all the way around the potholder with a 1/4” seam allowance.

13. Fold over binding. Fold the binding over the edge of the potholder and pin it in place. Make sure that the folded edge of the binding extends a little past the line you just sewed in step 12.

Then, on the front side of the potholder sew in the ditch (highlighted in the photo) between the binding and the potholder.

14. That’s it! Repeat these steps to make one more potholder.

Optional additions:

• Tuck a label or hanging loop in between the binding and hot pad in step 12.

• Make patchwork squares to use instead of the main fabric squares for a quilty potholder.

Did you make your own potholders? Let me know how it went below in the comments!