How To Make Pot Holders Using Scraps of Fabric and Worn Towels*

     Making potholders is not only easy but fun.  If you have old towels that are worn on the edges but still have plenty of integrity in the center, they will work perfectly for this project. You wil also be able to use some of the small remnant pieces of fabric you have.

     I'm going to show yow two different ways of constructing the pot holders. 

     Materials:

• 2 8X8 inch squares of towel fabric
• 2 8X8 inch squares of remnant pieces of fabric
• Wide bias tape (opitional)

   Pot Holder #1

     Sandwich the towels in between the 2 pieces of fabric. Have the fabric pieces so that they are both right side out. Pin everything in place.

     Next, stitch "quilt lines" across the potholder--parallel to each other--about half to 1 inch apart depending on what you want.

     You can sew these straight across or on a diagonal to create a different look. 

     To keep the fabric from moving or bunching, start the stitches in the middle and work your way out.

     Stitch additional lines perpendicular to the first set.

     With the bias tape, create a loop and sew it into one of the corners.

     Now sew the bias tape all around the pot holder to create a clean edge.

Pot Holder #2

     Place the fabric right sides together.  Put the 2 towel pieces on the wrong side of one of the fabric pieces.

  Stitch around the pot holder leaving a small opening to turn it right side out.

     After turning the pot holder, hand stitch the opening with a simple slip stitch.

     Iron the pot holder flat to make the quilting a little bit easier.  Next, make your quilt lines.

     Sew a loop of either matching fabric or a piece of bias tape onto one of the corners.

     If you want to get creative, you don't have to make straight quilt lines.  You can create different type of quiliting such as stitching around a flower in the fabric, or any other style you like.  It's all up to you.

* Idea found on HowStuffWork.com