Sunday, December 14, 2008

Oven Mitts tutorial

Every year I make something Christmassie for my co workers. We are only a small firm of accountants and this year we are all female except for the boss! Last year I made aprons (here too) and the year before table runners. This year it is oven mitts. I couldn't find a tutorial for exactly what I wanted so I just had a go and came up with this:

First, trace around your hand or trace a mitt you already have:
Next combine the outside fabric, batting and lining. I couldn't get any insulated batting so I just used poly. It is a bit thick but it should do the job. I could hold my hand against the iron for a few seconds before it got too hot, so I figure these will work for getting dishes out of the oven onto the bench top. I cut the 3 fabrics just long enough to fit one mitt length. I used the full width of the fabric. Easier to quilt that way.
Quilt using the walking foot. I just did straight lines every 5 white lines of the gingham. Fancy quilting would be nice, but I am a novice in this area and this was all I can do! Roll up the fabric as you go to make it easier to fit with your machine.

Cut two pieces from the pattern out of the new quilted "fabric". Cut one and then turn the pattern over to cut the other.

Make some binding. I used a co ordinating Christmas fabric with the 2.5cm wide binder. I cut the fabric on the straight grain to save fabric. It should be ok as I am not trying to go around curves.


Fold the binding in half making sure one side is slightly longer than the other.

Sew up the thumb side at least a few inches before attaching the binding.

Attach the binding with the longer side underneath. This will ensure you will catch it in your stitches.

Sew a couple of extra inches of the binding to make a hanging loop.


Fold the loop bit inside of the mitt before stitching the rest of the mitt together.

Here is the inside after I have finished. I didn't bother finishing off the inside. You could bind, zig zag or serge. I would have bound it I was making these for you ;)). But hey, I have 20 to make and my co workers will not care or even notice. Don't forge to clip to the stitching in the thumb curve to help it sit better when you turn it out.


And the outside:


Now back to the machine....I have another 19 to make :)

11 comments:

Vicki W said...

Excellent tutorial! Thanks!

Gwen said...

Very cool! I bet your friends look forward to their Christmas gifts every year! :)
And thanks for the tutorial!

NancyDaQ said...

What a great project idea! A serger would be ideal for the seams, too.

Sigrid said...

How sweet to make something for your co-workers each year! Love the Christmas fabric for this.

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

Very cute! I'm sure your co-workers will love these mitts.

Ann Made Studio said...

Great and thoughtful idea.

Meg said...

This is so nice of you!

Summerset said...

Cool! I remember the aprons - very thoughtful of you to make something special each year.

Diana said...

Vickie, what a sweetheart you are and how lucky your co-workers are to have you.I'm going to steal your ideas for next year. We had our Fabricville party last night and one of the girls made everyone of us (all 16 people) a shopping bag. Another made everyone a pincushion. I just now decided that I'm going to post them on my blog and thank them again.
In the past ,I made everyone a scarf and another year one of those terry turbans for after you wash your hair but they seem so piddly compared to an apron or oven mitts etc.
Thanks for the inspiration. Diana

goodworks1 said...

Very nice! Sometimes I use old wool sweaters or yardage for batting for potholders, but I haven't attempted mitts yet!

GailM. said...

Ahh, very nice. A great idea for next year. I'll buy some Christmas fabric when it goes on discount after Christmas...Thanks for the tutorial.