SEW simple
Give your kitchen country charm with a hanging pot holder and oven glove set made in classic gingham and stripes
If your existing oven glove is looking a little stained and worn, then get the sewing machine out for this beginner-friendly pot holder and oven glove set. You’ll master sewing bias binding, simple quilting (try using a sewing machine walking foot to make this even easier) and adding hanging loops. Make them in olive-green gingham for cottagecore vibes.
POT HOLDER
1 Cut two 20cm squares from the gingham fabrics for the main pot holder, and two 20 x 16cm pieces from the contrast fabrics for the pocket. From the heatproof wadding, cut two pieces measuring 20cm square and two measuring 20 x 16cm.
2 Place one of the pocket pieces wrong side (WS) up, then place the corresponding heatproof wadding pieces on top, then place the other pocket piece right side (RS) up on top. Tack them together around the outside to hold the sandwiched layers in place, then sew a strip of bias binding over the top edge of the pocket, to encase the raw edges.
3 Layer and tack the main pot holder and heatproof wadding pieces in the same way. Quilt the layers together using parallel lines of stitching diagonally across the panel. You may find it helpful to mark stitching lines to follow using an erasable fabric marker first.
4 Once you have quilted the pot holder, place the pocket on top, aligning the side and bottom raw edges. Tack the pocket and main pieces together to hold them in place, and then open out your bias binding and sew in place all the way around with the raw edges aligned on the front of your pot holder as shown, using your sewing machine.
5 Fold the binding over to the back and hand-sew it in place using ladder stitch, catching the fold of the bias with the line of machine stitching from the other side. To make the hanging loop, fold a small strip of bias binding in half lengthways and sew it together along the long edge, create a loop by aligning the two short edges, then hand-sew it to your pot holder before you finish stitching the outer binding in place.
OVEN GLOVE
6 Draw a template for the oven glove by first drawing around your hand onto paper or card, and then drawing an oven glove shape around the hand template – you can use a curved object, like a small plate, to help with this. Then, add a 1cm seam allowance all the way around. Use your template to cut out four glove pieces from the gingham fabrics and four from the heatproof wadding. Ensure you cut mirrorimage front and back pieces.
7 Trim the wadding down to just inside of the seam allowance, so your seams aren’t too bulky when you sew all the layers together. Layer the pieces ready to sew together, starting with a lining piece WS up, then two corresponding heatproof wadding pieces, then the two outer fabrics with RS together, then the other two heatproof wadding pieces, and then the other lining piece, RS up. Pin or clip all the layers together and then sew around the edges, but leave the bottom edge open.
8 Trim away any excess seam allowance with pinking shears and then carefully clip into the point at the thumb with sewing scissors, making sure not to cut your stitching – this will help it sit flat when turned RS out. Turn the glove RS out, and then sew bias binding around the opening of the glove and add a hanging loop, as with the pot holder.