Hello there! Welcome to daytwo of my 12 Days of Handmade Gifts. Today I am going to show you how to make these fun recipe pot holders. I love hot pads, but mine are getting pretty nasty, so I thought I would try making some. I know a lotof you are familiar with Spoonflower. For those who are not, Spoonfloweris a print on demand fabric company that will print your design onto fabric, wallpaper, wall clings, and now even wrapping paper. I have ordered from them twice now and have been really happy with the quality of the printing as well as the fabric. It’s a great tool for artists and crafters, and I’m sure you will see many more projects from me in the future that involve their fabric. When I decided to make hot padsfor christmas gifts this year, I thought it would be fun to include a special family recipe on them. The cookie recipe is my grandmothers, her pecan cookies were a big hit around the holidays. The other recipe is for cheese straws that my Aunt Jamie makes and they are so delicious they always disappear within a day. These little pot holders whip up really quick, so you could make a whole batch in an hour or two!
Instructions:
First decide how large you want your pot holderto be. I made mine 9″. They ended up being closer to 8″ though because I trimmed them down after quilting. To make the recipe, in your photo editing program first type up your recipe and save your file. Then, make a new page that is 18″x22″ for a fat quarter. Now drag and drop your recipe onto the blank page, repeating until you fill up the page with them. You want to make sure that your recipe is as wide as your pot holderso when you cut it out it won’t be too small. I made my recipes 8″ with 1/2″ of white space on either side, and I was able to fit six in a fat quarter. Save your page of recipes, upload them to spoonflowerand buy your fat quarter. When your fabric arrives cut out your recipes to 9″ wide by however tall your recipe is. Cut two squares of your pretty fabric, one square of warm and natural batting, and one square of your heat protective batting for each pot holder. For the pocket, cut lining fabric and batting the same size as your recipe fabric. Now layer your square and pocket pieces in the following order; place your pretty fabric face down, then place your heat protective batting on top, then your warm and natural batting on top of the first batting and then the other piece of pretty fabric face up. Starting diagonally in one corner mark your quilting lines. I made mine 1.5″ apart, then turn your fabric and mark the other direction so you end up with a diagonal grid for sewing. Stitch all your layers together row by row until all of your pieces are quilted. If you need to, trim your sides down so they are neat and even. Take your pocket piece and stitch a length of bias tape on the top raw edge. Make a loop with bias tape or ricracand staystitchin one corner for hanging with the loop facing in towardsthe middle. Now you are ready to bind with your bias tape. You can staystitchyour pocket to the front of your square or you can pin it in place. Open up your bias tape all the way. Take the shorter edge and lay down flush with the side of your square, stitch down in the crease of the first fold all the way around your pot holderstretching around curves. If you want to do mitered corners, you can find a great tutorial Hereand Here. Now fold your bias tape over the edge encasing the raw edge of your pot holder. Pin in place and stitch down close to the edge. Clip threads and you are finished.
I have to say that even though my degree is in fashion, and I like to sew, I’m not a perfect seamstress. This was the first time I have ever used batting, and let me tell you, when batting is involved, bias tape is not my friend. I am not totally happy with the binding, but I do think they are cute. I love adding the recipe to the mix. They make great gifts, and adding a family recipe makes them special and heartfelt. I think they’d be fantastic given with a tin of cookies from the recipe, a complete and personal gift! These little hot padsmake a sweet addition to your kitchen too. And with all the amazing fabric out there, you could make one for every season and occasion. I hope I’ve inspired a few of you to give Spoonflower a try, it’s really fun! Be sure to tune in next week for more fun and easy handmade gift tutorials!
Happy Crafting!
