How to Make a Quilted Potholder

Making a quilt style potholder from leftover fabric scraps from other quilt or craft projects is a great way to eliminate the smaller pieces of fabrics.

This craft project comes from my grandmother who used to make these quilt style potholders after having leftover pieces of scraps from making quilts or dresses she wore. She would occasionally receive fabric scraps from others who enjoyed receiving her potholders.

As she lived alone for many years after my grandfather passed away, my grandmother would find various crocheting and sewing projects to pass her time when she wasn't going to the Senior Citizen Center in Yukon, Oklahoma. The other senior citizens she met at the center would be the recipients of her hand-crafted potholders. The seniors loved receiving her handmade potholders and crocheted items.

Not only were the senior citizens the proud recipients of her handmade quilted potholders, her family members often received them as well. The handmade quilted potholders she made not only included scrap fabrics, but she also used worn wash rags or towels to place in the middle of the potholders so they would be heavy enough to use without getting burnt while using them. Now talk about being able to recycle. That's the way to do it. She would then trim the potholders with bias tape in various colors.

Many of these quilted potholders were in squares of various sizes, circles, and ovals. The paper backing used to sew the scrap pieces of fabrics together were from old phone books or newspapers cut into the size and shape to create the potholder.

Creating a Quilt Style Potholder

Materials For Quilted Potholders

Scrap fabric or various colors and styles of fabrics.
Paper for the template for the potholders.
Scissors for cutting the paper templates, fabrics, thread, and bias for the edging.
Needle and thread for sewing the strips of fabric together, quilting the potholders, and sewing the bias onto the outer edges of the potholder.
Batting, old wash clothes or towels for the filling of the quilted potholders.

Directions for Making Quilted Potholders

NOTE: The strips of fabric can hang over the edge of the template. If you have large scraps or new pieces of fabric, you will want to have the fabric cut into various widths. The small pieces of fabric of about one inch in diameter can be used on the outside corners of the potholder.

Cut out the template for the potholders in the size and shape that you want the potholder to be.

Take a small scrap of fabric, starting in the corner, if making a square, or the far side of the template, and sew down the inner edge with a quarter inch seam allowance.

Place a strip face down on the first piece. Sew onto the template and the first piece of fabric. Continue this method until you have the template covered in strips.

Trim off the excess fabric.

Make two of these per potholder. Tear off the paper from the back of your potholder top and bottom.

Cut out the filling for the potholder to the same size as the templates.

Place one quilted potholder piece face down, lay the filling for your pot holder on top of that, and place the other strip fabric piece right side up on top of the filler. Pin the three pieces together to hold into place.

You will now sew the three pieces together. You can do this in any manner you wish with a regular style stitching. You can make cris-crosses or a stitching from one corner to the other in both directions with one line of stitching across both directions of the potholder. The quilting of the potholder is now done.

You will need to have some kind of bias trim to sew around the outer edges of the potholder to finish it off. Regular bias that comes in 2 yard increments is hard to find, but any type of border edging will suffice as long as it can be sewn with a half inch overlapping on each side to prevent the fabrics from raveling of the quilt style top and bottom of the potholder.