Quilted potholders are fun, quick to make, and they are a really nice little gift!

I wanted to share another one of my favorite and free Pattern Tutorials with you, the Pocket Potholder! You can make someone a super-cute and useful gift in no time at all, plus they’re great for using your scraps. This project makes a nice and big potholder, and it has a pocket, so you can fit your hand inside and easily grip hot-stuff.

And because everyone loves this tutorial so much, check out my other free tutorial making Quilted Potholders to make later!

You have 2 options for this project. You can make a block first, like the one with red triangles shown above, or, if you’re in a hurry or just want a simpler project, you can just use a square of any pretty fabric for the front of the potholder (as shown in the potholder at the top of the photo.)

To make the Pot Holder, you will need:

• Fabric A- This can be a quilt block approximately 7” unfinished size (see materials and instructions below.) Or, for a really quick project, skip making the block and just substitute a piece of fabric which is 7 1/4” square
• Fabric B- 7 1/4” square for lining fabric (this will never show, so use whatever scrap you have on hand)
• Fabric C- 7 1/4” x 10 1/2”- this will be your other main fabric
• Fabric D- 7 1/4” x 10 1/2” – this will be the back of the potholder
• Fabric E- for binding and loop:
  • 2 3/4” x 44” for binding (if using fat quarters, just piece a couple of strips together to get enough length)
  • 1 1/2” x 4 1/2” piece for loop.
• Thread for quilting and topstitching the binding and loop
• Batting- 2 pieces. (7 1/4” x 10 1/2” AND a 7 1/4” square).  For making pot holders, I recommend using Insul-Bright.

To make the block (as listed above), you will need:

• Yellow- 2 squares, 3 1/2”
• Green- 2 squares, 3 1/2”
• Red- 2 squares, 3 1/8”
• Blue- 1 square, 3 1/2”
• White- 1 square, 3 1/2”
• Print for center- 1 square, 2 3/4”

To make the block (if you are making the simple version, just skip this part):

Cut the Red squares in half diagonally, to make a total of 4 triangles:

Place the White and Blue squares RIGHT sides together. Draw a line diagonally down the center, then draw a line 1/4” from center line on each side. Pin together. Sew on the “side lines,” then cut on center line.

You will have 2 White/Blue HSTs.  Press the seams toward the Blue.

Cut the squares down the center to make 4 triangles like this:

Sew a White/Blue triangle to each Red triangle. Press seam toward Red:

Place a Yellow square and a Green square RIGHT sides together. Repeat with remaining Yellow and Green squares. Following the same method we used with the White and Blue squares we used above, make 4 HSTs like this (press seams toward Yellow). Trim the Yellow/Green HSTs to 2 3/4”.

Arrange the squares into rows like this and sew together:

Sew the rows together so you have a block like this:

Your block will be about 7 1/4” unfinished size.

Now it’s time to make the potholder:

Make a square “sandwich” – Place Fabric B (lining) RIGHT SIDE DOWN on table. Top with square piece of batting, then place Fabric A (quilt block OR square piece of fabric) on top, RIGHT SIDE UP. Pin or spray baste the layers together.

Then you’re going to make a rectangular “sandwich”- Place Fabric D RIGHT SIDE DOWN on table. Top with rectangle piece of batting, then place Fabric C on top, RIGHT SIDE UP. Pin or spray baste the layers together.

Now we will quilt each “sandwich.” You need to do this to be sure that the layers stay together throughout machine washing (potholders tend to get dirty!!) You can free motion quilt them, or you can just sew some lines on them about 1 to 1 1/2” apart (a walking foot on your machine is good for this. You can either draw the lines on with a washout marker or chalk, or just “eyeball” it.) For my quilt block, I just sewed about 1/8” on either side of the seams. For the simple potholder, I did free-motion loops. For both of the potholders, I sewed diagonal lines on the rectangle sandwich using my walking foot.

The quilting process will make the pieces “shrink” a bit.

Trim away any excess batting or backing fabric, and trim the pieces so that they are the same width (the length doesn’t really matter.)

Make the loop- press the fabric in half lengthwise, RIGHT SIDES OUT. The press the edges in toward the center line. Top stitch right along edge (as close as you can get to the edge.)

Make the binding- Fold and press the binding strip in half lengthwise RIGHT SIDES OUT.

Cut a strip of binding 7” long (or whatever the width of your quilted square is.). Pin the raw edge of the binding so that it is aligned with one raw edge of the quilted square. Sew.

Press the binding away from the square. Fold it to back of square and pin in place. Topstitch right “in the ditch” of your seam.

Place the quilted square and rectangle together, so that the square and main fabric C are both facing up. Machine baste about 1/8” from raw edge (do not baste the edge that already has binding.)

Baste on the loop 1/8” from raw edge, about 3/8” from corner.

Pin and sew the binding strip all around the edges of the potholder.

Press the binding away from the potholder. Fold around to the back and pin in place. Topstitch “in the ditch.”

If you would like, hand stitch the edge of the binding to the back of the potholder (the topstitching will hold it all together through machine washings, but the hand stitching on the back makes it look nice and finished.)

Want this tutorial in a PDF download? Tell us where to send it!