How to Make Christmas Pot Holders
Sew pretty Christmas-themed pot holders to use in your own kitchen during the holidays or to give as gifts to friends and family. During the year, keep a craft box handy to collect the supplies and materials you'll use for sewing Christmas pot holders. Involve children and other adults to make a variety of these functional and decorative items that are always appreciated.
Things You'll Need
- Fabric, medium weight, in Christmas colors and themes
- Batting or insulation cloth
- Scissors
- Card stock
- Pencil
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine and thread
- Double-fold binding tape
Instructions
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1
Make a card-stock template for the pot holder. Use a pencil to draw one-half of a Christmas ornament, such as a circle or bell, along one edge of the card. Draw the design so that the template will be for a pot holder about nine inches wide when open. Cut out the template with scissors.
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2
Fold the fabric in half. Fold it again so that when it's cut, there will be two pieces, a full front and full back of the pot holder.
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3
Lay the card stock template on the fold of the fabric, aligning it with the edge of the template. Pin the template to the fabric with a few pins. Cut the two fabric pieces for the pot holder with scissors, and then remove the pins and the template.
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4
Pin the pot holder template to double layers of batting, and cut with scissors. Remove the template.
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5
Place the batting between the front and back pieces of fabric. Pin them together with straight pins. Straight-stitch across one side of the pot holder from one side to the other in parallel lines three inches apart. Turn the pot holder 90 degrees and straight-stitch parallel lines for a criss-cross look.
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Slip an edge of the pot holder near the top (if it's an ornament or bell shape) between the double-fold binding tape. Begin straight-stitching close to the edge of the binding tape so that both sides are secured to the pot holder. Work slowly, continuing to straight stitch the binding tape to the fabric and batting. Remove the straight pins as you sew. Sew until the binding tape is almost all around the edges of the pot holder and near the beginning.
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7
Cut a piece of binding tape four inches long. Straight-stitch the tape close to the edge. Fold it in half and tuck it inside the binding tape near the top of the pot holder and pin it. This is the hook loop for the pot holder. As you sew the binding tape to the pot holder, sew the loop in.
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8
Just before reaching the end of the tape being sewn onto the pot holder along the edge (at the top where you began), cut off about one inch of extra binding tape past the place you began sewing. Fold the end in and sew it to the pot holder, overlapping it on the tape where you began, for a neat finish.
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Tips & Warnings
This is a good project to help young girls or boys to learn how to sew.
Purchase Christmas themed fabrics after the holidays when they are on sale.
Small scraps of Christmas fabric can be used to make pot holders in a "crazy quilt" style. Iron them close together onto muslin with iron-on adhesive sheets, such as Heat and Bond, then sew a zig-zag stitch over the seams to give them a pretty finish. Cut into pot holder-size squares or shapes to make pot holders as described in this article.
Make pot holders in pairs.
Only older children or adults should use the sewing machine; find other tasks for very young children participating in this project.
References
- Photo Credit Autumn Color Potholders image by Joyce Wilkes from Fotolia.com
