Quick & Easy DIY Potholder Sewing Tutorial

First up I cut out:

• 2 x cotton – 14cm x 16cm / 5 Â½ x 6 inches
• 2 x insulating wadding – 14cm x 16cm / 5 Â½ x 6 inches
• 1 x cotton – 14cm x 4cm / 5 ½ x 1 ½ inches).

I put the insulating wadding on the backs of the cotton then popped them right-sides together. So the layers go – wadding, cotton, cotton, wadding. I’ve started at the top near the corner, then sewn all the way around the outside.

I’ve used a walking foot to move all the layers of fabric more easily and help the fabric layers stay lined up as I sew. If you want to know more about how this foot is able to do that, you may want to have a read of our tutorial on how a walking foot works.

Then when I get back up to that top edge, I left a wide gap to be able to turn the fabric through.

I snipped off the extra bulk at the corners so they’ll lie flatter after I turn the fabric back the right way out. Then I used a pair of long nose pliers to grab the inside fabric and gently pull it through to turn it easier. I used the tip of it to poke the corners out (if you haven’t got any, a chopstick works well for poking out corners too!).

I want to fold the edges of that open part under so it’ll stitch up easier, but because I’ve got insulating wadding inside, the heat won’t easily travel through the layers to be able to press it flat. So I ironed the cotton both inside and outside of the opening to be able to press the cotton in place.

Next, I made a little tab to be able to hang it up by. I took the smaller cotton piece and folded the long edges towards the centre and pressed them in place.

Then I folded it again so that those raw edges were sandwiched right in the centre, and I’m left with a tag that is quarter of the width that I started with.

I stitched the open edge closed first. Just top-stitching near the edge all the way along. I left the ends scruffy because they’ll be hidden so they don’t need to look tidy. I also top-stitched down the other side too so that it’ll hold its shape nicely.

I made a loop with my little tab by folding it in half then I positioned it near the corner. Feel free to pin yours in place if you want more help keeping it still as you sew it.

I started sewing from near the corner again. Then I stitched that tab down in place with a top stitch, and followed the edge all the way around the pot holder. Make sure to trim your starting thread before you get back there so that it can’t get caught up and tangled underneath. When I got back to my starting point, I just pivoted my walking foot to sew diagonally across the potholder to add a few lines of quilting. This will be the second line of 5 in total as we’ll sew the first little line near the end.

Once I got to the other side, I stitched upwards on top of my previous line of stitching around the edge so the lines of sewing were hidden. Then I came back diagonally across to the other side, keeping roughly the same distance away each time. If you’re sewing along and want your lines to be more precise, or you’d feel more confident following a straight line, just mark out where you’d like your quilting lines with a temporary fabric marker first.

Once those 4 lines were sewn, I pivotted the walking foot again, to sew a diagonal line in the opposite direction.

At the end of this line, I pivoted and stitched that final short line that I missed out at the start.

This took me to the perfect spot to just pivot the foot again and sew all the way back to the end of my other short diagonal on the other side, to make 2 long diagonal stitch lines travelling one way and 5 going in the opposite way.