Pot holders, Potholders, Hot Pads...Oven mitts...What do you call them?

My Sunday is going to be a quiet one.  DH will be sleeping most of the day, he worked last night.  I'm looking forward to watching some football, but you know I can't just watch TV, I have to be working on something "fabricky".  I thought I'd make a few potholders, hot pads, whatever you call them.  I like to have some items ready to gift for the Christimas season.  Yesterday I did a search for free patterns but nothing really got me all that excited...I guess maybe potholders are not all that exciting...but they could be.  I did find a few patterns from my searches which I will share a bit later.

Oven mitts are fairly straight forward in my opinion, an oversize shape of a hand, make two sandwiches, sew them together and turn inside out.  Trim with bias tape, Got it.

I like oven mitts but I prefer the flat hot pad with a pocket for your hand and no thumbs.  One of my favorite purchased patterns is from Calico Moon Handcrafts and the pattern is called Too Hot To Handle.  It features 5 different patterns with a common theme of a rectangle or square shape with a pocket.  Hence the Five Pocket Potholders.  The pattern is written with such humor that one can't resist the impulse to sit down and make a few right then and there. 

The pattern on the left is another of my favorites.  Handy Heart Potholders by Classic Crafts, Eva Holen, 425-827-2313 and has an email address seweva@hotmail.com but you can find it here on Lisa Moore's website, Quilts With A Twist, Lisa Moore from Sitka Alaska.  I use this pattern if I'm being fancy shmancy.

I did find some free patterns in my search yesterday, I promised I'd share with you.  The first one is from Moda Bake Shop and it's a Chenille Hot Pad  and there is another free pattern on Moda Bake Shop called Quilted Hot Pads by Bonnie from Cotton Way.  Both are worthy of a try.  The third and favorite free pattern I found is Retro Fun: Quilted Mitt Pot Holders from http://www.sew4home.com/.  Be sure to check this one out because it is cute, cute cute!!

If my creative juices are flowing I can come up with a few of my own creations and I like to start with a sandwich that I do on my longarm machine.  This one pictured is a layer of that silvery stuff, a layer of Insul-Bright, a layer of cotton batting and a layer of terry cloth (100% cotton).  I make the sandwich about 36" long by about 20-22 inches wide, or as wide as a chunk of Insul-Bright (by Warm Company).  Then I quilt the whole thing in a few quick swipes and I have the base of a hot pad.

From here I slice the size I want and add a top pocket of whatever I choose.  Remember those Halloween pot holders;

I flipped the terry cloth side facing up of course and added a pocket inspired from the Too Hot To Handle Pattern.  BUT I should have rounded the corners on these, and I will on my next ones.

I'm not a huge fan of that silvery stuff, but I purchased 2 yards of it (what was I thinking?) and it is taking me forever to use it up.  If I don't want to use good fabric on the side of the hot pad that will get hot, I like to use a heavier fabric, and that old fashioned pillow ticking works good.  But a heavy cotton twill or duck cloth would work, I'd think.  I've heard of people using old blue jeans too. 

There's a big discussion in cyber space about what to fill hot pads with.  All agree that cotton batting is the safest, polyester batting will melt with the heat.  But how many layers, whether to use the Insul-Bright, and how about old bath towels as a padding inside, sure why not?  I say, keep safety in mind at all times, but use what you have on hand.  Back in the day there was no such thing as Insul-Bright.  And as for the outer fabric, heck use from your stash, scraps, strings, use it up, make it scrappy or make it fancy shmancy, after all they are just hot pads? pot holders?  mitts?