Happy Holiday Baking!

I am still busy making Christmas gifts.  I decided to make oven pads for a few gifts.  Pinterest was a great resource for ideas, but nothing exactly ‘stuck’ as being the perfect idea, so I began experimenting.  I wish I was one of those that can use a pattern ‘as is’, but for some reason deep in my DNA, I can’t.  I have to ‘continuous improvement’ the thing, tweaking, adjusting little things until its product perfect, along with the process.

I didn’t want to make an oven mitt.  What I REALLY wanted was to replace the two heavy duty washable terry oven pads I bought from Pampered Chef decades ago.  Throw them in the wash with some bleach, and voila!  They are like new……sort of.  Today they are thin, torn and looking like me…..worn out!  

So I started with a couple concepts I saw elsewhere.  Go big or go home they say…finished this runs 9.5” square.  A tad too big they could slide off, but a good start….you slip fingers into both half triangles and the pad folds around the rack or cookie sheet.  I guarantee this is square, regardless how my camera angle depicts it.

 

Next I reduced the finished size to 8.5” square.  Better, but not exactly where I want to be.  There were two problems……they still could fall off, and working with 2 layers of Insul-brite on the main pad plus 1 for the corner, plus 4 layers of face fabric, plus bias binding made it tough to sew so many layers and keep it looking nice.  You can see that in the examples.  So I kept tweaking……

Here’s the finished model……8.5” square with a 6.5” rectangle to slip hands into.  You can have a blast picking fun coordinates; I used what I had on hand. This holds the pad much more securely while covering your hand so you won’t get burned.  I reduced the Insul-brite to one layer on the main pad, one for the rectangle.  The patterns I found suggest one layer plus a layer of regular batting which doesn’t give you any heat resistance, only more unwanted bulk so I left that out.  30 minutes and you have a really cute hot pad.  

 

Sew……here are the materials needed per pad:

1 – 8.5” square Insul-brite

1 – 6.5”x8.5” rectangle Insul-brite

2 – 8.5” square fabrics

2 – 6.5”x8.5” rectangle fabrics

1 – 2.5”x48” long strip for binding, ironed in half to 1.25” wide

Cutting mat

Rotary cutting ruler

Rotary cutter

Thread

Scissors

Pins

Begin with the 6.5” square first – layer fabric face down, then Insul-brite, then fabric face up. Pin 9” strip of binding along 8.5” side.  Sew ¼” from edge.  Press open, folding binding over raw edge.  Pin in place and topstitch in the ditch to secure.  Trim excess off ends.

Next assemble the main pad.  Layer 8.5” fabric face down, then Insul-brite, then fabric face up.  Temporarily pin 6.5”x8.5” finished rectangle on top, carefully catching all layers and corners of raw edges.  Next pin the rest of your binding strip around the edge of the square making sure to capture all the layers.  The more pins the less shifting you’ll have.  This step is like finishing a quilt, so use your favorite method.  I didn’t get fussy….remember it’s a hot pad.  I left a half inch loose at the top, then sewed around the edge, trimming and tucking the last bit into the loose end and securing.  Trim excess if needed.  Press binding open, then fold and pin binding in place.  Topstitch around entire edge, making sure to capture all the layers inside.  Slip your hand inside and enjoy!