Heart Shaped Potholder

lalala...
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finished potholder We needed new potholders and decided that making my own would be the best way to get exactly what I wanted. Plus, the handmade ones from my mother have held up so much better than the store bought ones. These potholders are easy to make and can easily be customized for your kitchen.

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 1

Supplies:

1/2 yd each, of two coordinating fabrics
1/2 yd Warm and Natural batting (or similar cotton batting)
1 pkg. double-fold bias tape
thread
pins
sewing needle
scissors
sewing machine

Click Here to download a printable (PDF) version of the template.

Steps:

Trace your template onto both fabric pieces. You will need one full heart in each color and two half hearts in each color. Also you will need two full hearts of Warm and Natural.

Take two heart halves, one in each color, and place them right sides together. Stitch along the straight side, then fold them back along the seam so that they are right side out. Press along the seam, so that they lay flat together.

Top-stitch the heart half about 1/4 in. from the edge. Tie of the thread ends and trim off excess. Repeat with the other two heart halves.

Now layer your full heart together, with the two pieces of batting in the middle and the fabrics right-side out. Stitch a seam down the center of the heart, this will keep the layers from slipping as you work on the potholder. Tie of the thread ends and trim off excess.

Now lay the two sewn heart halves on top of the full heart and pin everything together. Loosely baste the half hearts on, to avoid shifting.

Staring at the bottom point, begin pinning the bias tape onto the potholder. As you go along, be sure that the edge stays tight to the fold of the bias tape. When you come to the end again, fold the end of the tape under and pin.

When sewing the bias tape on, be sure to not sew too close to the edge of the tape, as you may miss the tape edge on the backside.

Once you finish attaching the bias tape, tie off the threads and use a sewing needle to pull the ends back inside to hide them. Trim off any excess.

Cut a piece of bias tape approx. 3 inches long. Stitch it together along the edge. Pin it onto the potholder, turning the ends under. Sew in place. Tie off ends and trim off excess.

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Frugal Sunnie
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January 31, 20130 found this helpful

What a great tutorial! The potholder is so cute too, I love the fabrics you used, and the design is so smart to use the contrast fabric to create a sort of pocket for the user's fingers.

I don't think I have anything as cute as your fabrics lurking in my scrap bag, but I am definitely going to make several of these heart pot-holders with what I do have using your tute.

I hope you win, this is really well done!

Editor's Note: Please post a photo of your completed potholders when you get them done.

Frugal Sunnie
Silver Feedback Medal for All Time! 282 Feedbacks

February 21, 20130 found this helpful

I dug through the craft-sewing stash and found I could adapt the pattern and instructions to work with what I had on hand. I didn't have enough of the tartan to do the back of the pot holder so the blue is front and back. I had to improvise on the batting, too as all I had on hand was high loft polyester batting so for heat protection I used two thickness and I had to quilt down the double thickness of high loft batting to reduce bulk.

That adjustment meant I then had to place the heart halves a bit differently to hide my clumsy quilting; I'm also ending up having to hand sew the bias tape on because I only had single fold on hand-that doubled high loft batting was still fairly bulky even after the quilting so getting that tape on is only possible by hand.

The instructions were easy to follow-I did have to remember to use a 5/8ths seam allowance when joining the heart halves, and to 'flip' the pattern when cutting those out so that both of the contrast fabric pieces would end up on the outside.

I'm posting a pic of it with the tape clipped on to show construction progression. My husband really likes these because they aren't frilly and because the materials came out of my stash, lol!

I like the ones I made so well that I am ordering proper supplies to make more-these would be wonderful bridal shower, hostess, and housewarming gifts.

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