Pot holder tutorial

Since I left one of my two oven mitts at a son's house--and am not getting it back--I decided it was time to invest in something to protect my hands while handling hot pots.


Can you believe that pot holders and oven mitts run upwards of $3 each?  And those were the cheap ones!  I simply did not want to pay that kind of money for something I could easily make.  So instead, I bought dish towels and smaller dish cloths. 

$10 for everything...not too bad.  

I really like bar mops because they are absorbent and come in a variety of sizes and weights.  I tossed in one striped dish towel that matched the stripes on the bar mops.  When I got home, I tossed the bar mops into the washer and brought the striped towel to the studio.  


The Plan:  Make two or more pot holders from the one dish towel and whatever I happen to have on hand in the studio.

I cut off the hem, which I could have ripped out but it simply was not worth the extra work.  I then cut the dish towel evenly into thirds.

To determine how large I needed, I simply measured my own hand with the fingers spread apart.    

Fold each piece in half, and add three layers of quilt batting. 

Sew around the three open sides, leaving an opening to turn right side out.

Turn right side out and using a blunt object, push out the corners.  (I have a small dowel rod that I used for this purpose.)

Turn the raw edges in and pin in place.  

Sew opening closed and continue completely around the pot holder.

To make sure that the batting does not shift when I wash these, I stitched in straight lines using the stripes as my guide.  First in one direction.....

then in the other direction.

I want to be able to hang these pot holders, so I found a shoe lace that wasn't being used and happened to be a good color for the project.  I cut it into three 8 inch pieces and tied the ends into small knots.  

Stitch onto one corner for a hanger, but be careful--I broke two needles doing just that!  

And we're ready to get cooking....now if only I could get rid of the crud as easily!  

The Result: three pot holders for the $1.45 dish towel, batting scraps and an hour of my time.  For less than $10 we now have five dish towels, eight dish cloths, and three pot holders....all color coordinated, clean, and put away!  Considering that three pot holders alone would have cost $9, don't you think it was worth the effort?


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Mary