Owl Always Give You A Hand – Free Hot Pad and Potholder Tutorial

***This tutorial was originally posted on Sew McCool. Make sure to go over and check out all the FANTASTIC tutorials she has. ******

 

I love owls! I always have, even before they were trendy. My grandmother was a collector of owls and after she passed away I received an owl dish that I use to keep my jewelry in. Everytime I see an owl I think of my sweet Granny. I love having this hotpad and potholder in my kitchen, it is a great reminder of her. Plus my kids love to use the potholder as a puppet and make it Hoot all over the kitchen.

 

Supplies Needed –

• (1) 10″x17″ fabric for front of hot pad
• (1) 10″x17″  contrasting fabric for back of hot pad
• (1) 10.5″x17.5″ piece of Insulbrite or thinsulate or other heatproof batting
• (1) Fat quarter of contrasting fabric for owl bodies
• (1) small piece of the heatproof batting for potholders
• various scraps for eyes, pupil, beak and wings of owl
• fusible webbing such as Wonder Under
• double-fold bias tape, either store-bought or handmade
• Owl Pieces Printable Pattern found at the end of the post

We are going to start with the hot pad
1. Draw all your owl shapes onto your fusible webbing and fuse them to their coordinating fabrics. You will need 2 owl bodies, 2 beaks, 4 wings, 4 eyes and 4 pupils.

2. Cut out all your owl shapes.

3. Lay out your owls on your top fabric and then fuse them into place

4. Sew your owl pupils, eyes, and nose into place with either a straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch. If you choose the straight stitch you will have some fraying when you wash your items. (Personally I like the look of the slight fray, but some people don’t.)

 

 

1. Next you are going to make a quilt sandwich, you are going to place your heat proof batting between your front and back fabrics. Wrong sides of the front and back fabrics facing the batting. Then PIN, PIN, PIN your layers together. You can also use spray adhesive to hold the layers together. I use spray adhesive on bigger quilt projects, but for this small project pinning will be fine.

2. First you are going to stitch your owl down, I stitched by lining up the outside (or right side) of my sewing foot with the outside of the owl. Sew all the way around going slow.

3. When you get back to where you started stitching keep stitching off the owl for 1/4″, with your needle still down in the fabric, lift your presser foot and pivot your fabric so you are sewing alongside your previous stitch line. Line up the left side of your sewing foot with your previous stitch line and sew around the owl again. Repeat this pattern one more time.

4. Stitch along your owl wings using the edge of your sewing foot as a guide again.

 

1. Square up your hot pad and trim off your extra batting fabric.

2. Start pinning your double-fold bias tape around the outside of the hot pad. With the double-fold bias tape you will just sandwich your hot pad layer in the middle, making sure to keep the slightly longer edge of the bias tape in the back.

3. When you get to the corner measure out 1/2″ and mark it with a washable pen or marker. Then fold your bias tape over, meeting your mark with the edge of your already pinned bias tape.

4. Continue pinning all the way around and stitch down along the very edge of your bias tape, making sure you are catching the back in your stitching.

 

Now for the potholder

1. For the potholders, you will only need to have your owl details on the interfacing not the owl bodies, and you are only detailing the front of the pot holder so you will need, You will need 2 owl bodies, 1 beak, 2 wings, 2 eyes and 2 pupils. Cut out all your owl shapes. Lay out your owl details on the top owl and then fuse them into place

2. Layer your front owl piece on one piece of the heatproof batting and pin. Repeat for the back owl piece. On the front piece only, sew your owl pupils, eyes, and nose into place with either a straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch. If you choose the straight stitch you will have some fraying when you wash your items. (Personally I like the look of the slight fray, but some people don’t.)

3. The quilting pattern on the front piece follows the shape of the wings. Sew close to the inside edge of the wing for the top to the bottom. Cut your thread and then line up your presser foot along with the previous stitching and sew. Follow this pattern on both wings and right outside of both wings. Use a straight stitch right down the center from the bottom of the beak.

4. The quilting pattern on the back of the owl is a spiral starting at the top of the right ear and going around the owl in a spiral until you reach the middle of the owl.

1. Pin your double fold bias binding around the bottom half of the front and back pieces, stitch in place.

2. Take a 5″ strip of bias binding and stitch it closed. Fold in half and pin with raw edges off the edge of your front owl. Pin in place. Place your front and back owl pieces right side together and stitch using 1/4″ seam allowance. Leave an opening at the bottom big enough so you can slide your hand in it. Clip curves and points.

3. Turn potholder inside out and press well.

 You are all finished! Now go bake a yummy pie to sit on your hot pad. Make sure to browse through all the great projects on Knot Sew Normal while you wait for the pie to cool.

Download your owl pattern here.