For my husband’s mom’s side of the family we do a grab bag game. This year I decided to make two hot pads and also gave a few kitchen tools, including a wooden spoon, can opener, flexible turner, tongs, and a silicon spatula.
I made two different sizes for the hot pads. The larger one is 10 x 10 like in this tutorial and the smaller one is 8 x 8. I think the smaller one is more realistic for pulling things out of the oven but the larger one will be better for putting under hot items on the counter or table.
If you remember, I made a hot pad shortly after I started sewing. I purchased the bias tape and didn’t have my walking foot. If quilting the hot pads like I did, I highly suggest getting a walking foot.
I used insul-bright in the center of the hot pads but probably should have also added some batting for an extra layer of protection. My brother in law got the gift so I can easily make more for him to replace these if it’s an issue.
I decided to make my own bias tape this time around. Actually, I didn’t make actual bias tape cut on the bias since I didn’t have any curves to sew around. Instead I just cut 2” pieces by the width of the fabric. I used my machine to sew the binding on using this tutorial. I messed up a few times before actually getting it right so there was a lot of use of my seam ripper.
In the end, I would say they turned out fairly well, but I am determined to get better at sewing on binding!
