I hope you guys had fun making your pincushions last week. We had a great time and everyone finished their project here at the house. So, now that we have your pins and needles all organized we’re going get on with another useful project. Making hotpads.
There are a million and one ways to make a hotpad. This is just one of them and a super easy one at that. These would also make a great Christmas gift.
{Supplies you need}
1/4 yard cotton fabric – something you would like in your kitchen (this can be one or two pieces of fabric)
Thread
Scissors
Batting or thermal batting (or both)
Straight Pins
Seam Ripper
Ruler or measuring tape
Paper
Fabric Crayons or Markers (optional)
Rotary Cutter (optional)
Cutting Mat (optional)
{Skills Learned}: circular sewing, stacking and flipping
How to make a super easy hotpad:
- Make a pattern on a peice of paper (I used freezer paper) of a circle with an 8 inch diameter (across)
- Cut it out – with your paper cutting scissors
- Cut 4 fabric circles (2 of each fabric if you are using two different fabrics). Two will be for the inside and the outside and two will be for your pockets.
- Cut 1 circle from Thermal Batting and 1 circle from cotton batting – or 2 from cotton batting (the thermal is great for not catching on fire, but it really needs the extra thickness of some cotton batting)
- Iron the 2 peices for your pockets in half
- Iron the outside peice in half and then open up
- Lay the 2 pocket peices about 1/2 inch away from the crease of the outside peice
- Pin the pockets to the outside peice along the straight edge.
- Flip the pocket and outside pieces over and trim off the area of the pockets that is hanging over the inside piece.
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Iron over one side of the inside piece – about 1 inch in.
- Cut a piece of fabric 2 1/2 inches by 4 inches
- Fold in half lengthwise and iron
- Open and fold in one edge up to the crease and iron. Fold in other side up to crease and iron
- Fold in half and iron. Congratulations, you have just made *bias tape or binding.
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Sew along edge of binding
- Stack your circles in this order – cotton batting, thermal batting, inside fabric piece with right side facing up and pockets pinned to it. Fold binding piece in half and pin to inside piece between the 2 pockets. Cover with inside piece with right side of fabric facing down. The folded piece should be on one the left or right side, not top or bottom.
- Pin all layers together
- Using a 1/4 inch seam, stitch all around the circle using your top fabric as your guide.
- Either zigzag the edges or use pinking shears to cut away some of the seam allowance
- Notice the hole on the right hand side of our hotpad
- Open that hole and turn the hot pad right side out – make sure that the pockets are on the correct side. If you can still see the turning hole then flip your pocket over to the other side.
- You can use your handy dandy chopstick to gently push out the edges
- voila! Pretty easy, right?
- Your thumb and fingers go into the pockets – kind of like a hand puppet – when you use it.
Once your done admiring your handy work eat some chocolate and then get a head start on your Christmas gifts.
By the way, I’m having some issues with the flickr group. If any of you know how to make a badge for our sewing school group and you let me know?
Angi Schneider is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Vegetables and Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond, both published by Page Street Publishing. She has taught canning classes for 177 Milk Street, been featured in Serious Eats, and written for Countryside Magazine. Angi has been sharing gardening, preserving, and simple living skills since 2010.