Personalized Pot Holders | Beginner Sewing Craft

Today we are going to be making a beginner's sewers project, pot holders. Hi everyone, it's Melissa from Welcome to the Woods. This project is special because it was filmed by my sister Michelle. If you've been following my page for a while you know I'm not a sewer, so that is why I am doing the voiceover while she is the one doing the project. This is a craft that will hopefully inspire you to try learning a new skill. I know it has inspired me. The first step to making these pot holders is to pick out your fabrics. Michelle went with a solid black cotton on one side and a neutral floral print cotton on the other. She's making a pair of pot holders, so two pieces of each fabric are needed. You'll see Michelle pre-shrunk and ironed these fabrics before cutting. This measuring mat is very helpful for precise cutting, as well as a sharp fabric scissors or cutting roller. You can get all the materials to make this project yourself by clicking on the links in the description of this video. Now pot holders are typically filled with an insulated batting to prevent heat transfer. Michelle used Insulbright, as you can see here. She did tell me later she wished she had cut two layers of the insulated batting, because the pot holders turned out thinner than she hoped. Keep that in mind if you are going to make this craft. These squares were cut to the same size as the fabric pieces, and you can make your pot holders whatever size you like. Michelle's were approximately 8 inches by 8 inches. Now you should have two pieces of your three types of fabric. The floral designs, the black bottoms, and the insulated batting. Now she's going to sew the handprint shape of her three-year-old daughter on the back side of the pot holders, because she's actually making these pot holders as a gift for her daughter's godparents. First, Michelle cleaned the fabric with a lint roller. She placed the little hand on an old cereal box cardboard and traced it. After cutting out the cardboard, she had a template to use on the fabric. It worked best to trace onto the black fabric with a white colored pencil. Once she had her outline, she was able to take the design to her sewing machine and carefully stitch the handprint shape. Michelle decided to use a white thread in a zigzag stitch for this cool detail. If you're loving this project so far, please click the share button to show your friends. I'd love to know in the comments below if you can sew, or if you're like me and are inspired to learn. If you can sew, what is the most recent thing you've created? Now before she assembles, Michelle cuts out black satin ribbons for little loops on the pot holders. Okay, so now to assemble, she lays down the batting first, then the black fabric right side up, and the floral fabric right side down. She folds the ribbon over and places it in the corner opposite her handprint detail with the loop facing inward. And you'll notice she put it right between the floral fabric and the black fabric. Now pin everything down, starting with where the loop is. Now it's time to sew. Michelle is using a black thread and setting her sewing machine to a quarter inch seam allowance. She sews down three sides. The fourth side is important. Instead of sewing all the way, she sews in about an inch on each corner and leaves a significant portion of this side open. This is for being able to turn the pot holder inside out. But before she's going to do that, she trims the corners. This is to prevent them from bunching up. Then Michelle finds between the two fabrics and carefully turns the pot holder inside out so the correct sides of both fabrics are showing. Be sure to push out your corners all the way. Now she carefully folds the opening back under using the inch or so of stitching that she did on the open side as a guideline. Pin it in place and then sew this down too. Again, Michelle is using a quarter inch seam allowance, black thread, and she's going all the way around the pot holder this time to hide the part of the seam that's necessary. She added a double stitch all the way around to make it more decorative. At this point you could be done, but Michelle is going to go above and beyond and do some quilting stitches across the pot holders. She said she felt this would make it more sturdy and prevent it from sliding around on the table. She used rulers to find the measurements needed to make three equal lines down in each direction. The black thread makes this detail visible on the floral print side and almost invisible on the bottom side where the hand print is. That was the finishing touch to these adorable handmade pot holders. If you were inspired, don't forget to click the share button. I hope you'll all share your sewing project with me in the comments below or in the Welcome to the Woods group, which you can find linked in the description. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on Welcome to the Woods.