Adrianne's Oven Mitt - a 2013 FAL tutorial

When Adrianne from On the Windy Side asked me if I would like a tutorial for an easy to make and fun to use Oven Mitt, I said of course. When I saw the tutorial, I immediately started thinking about which fabric I would use to make one of these excellent oven mitts for myself, and I bet you will too. Read on, this is a fun and easy project.

I'm really excited to share this tutorial for making your very own customised oven mitt with you. This is a pretty quick project, which I think is perfect for gifts - what could be better than an oven mitt customised to the recipient's kitchen?  It is also a solution to that gifts-for-guys dilemma we all face - it's something practical that a man who likes cooking will actually use. I personally really like this style of oven mitt because even if you don’t have any hooks in your kitchen, you can easily hang it over the handle of your oven, and it lets you use both hands.

To make this oven mitt, you only need a single fat quarter of your chosen feature fabric, which makes it a perfect project to use up those “just because” fat quarters – you know, the ones you bought just because you love the fabric, not because you had a plan for it at the time!

What you will need

- 1 fat quarter of your feature fabric
- 2 scrap pieces of fabric, 9” by 7”
- 34” by 11” piece of backing fabric
- 30” by 10” piece of low loft cotton batting
- 30” by 10” piece of Insul-Bright (insulated batting)
- At least 70” bias binding (2 1/4" or 2 1/2" wide)
- Freezer paper
- Printed template

Download templates here

Tips before you start

It's a good idea to read the full tutorial all the way through before you start.

When choosing fabrics for this project, bear in mind that they will be touching hot dishes.  For this reason, I would recommend that you stick to natural fibres like cotton and/or linen which can stand up to the heat. If you're not sure, think about whether you would iron the fabric hot and with steam.  If not, it's probably not suitable.

You need bias binding for this project so that it can go around the curved ends of the oven mitt - straight grain binding will not work. You can use store-bought bias binding or make your own.

If you use store bought bias binding, make sure it is 100% cotton, otherwise you run the risk of it melting on contact with hot dishes (I used poly-cotton binding on the first version of this oven mitt I made, and had to rip it off after I melted it with my iron...).

If you make your own bias binding, cut it the width that you would normally cut binding for a quilt.  I like a narrow binding, so I cut mine 2 1/4" wide, but with the extra layer of the Insul-Bright, it was a bit of a squeeze so 2 1/2" wide binding might have been better.

Finally, don't be put off by the inclusion of Insul-Bright in this tutorial.  I thought it might be expensive or hard to find here in New Zealand (we don't generally have as large a range of quilting goods available here as in the US, for example), but I found it easily and at several places.  I know it is definitely available at Spotlight in New Zealand and Australia, I believe it is available at Joann's in the US, and if necessary you can buy it online quite readily.

Step 1 – Preparing templates 

Print the template on A3 paper, making sure that your print settings are “actual size” or "scale 100%" – measure the 1” test square to check. Put a piece of freezer paper over your template, with the shiny side down, and trace around the template. Cut both piece 1 and piece 2 out of the freezer paper so that you have two freezer paper templates.

Step 2 – Preparing fabric 

Iron your fat quarter and fold in half, aligning the shortest cut edge with the selvedge. Square up the edges. Cut your fat quarter into two strips approximately 9” by 20”. Trim the selvedge off both pieces. Sew one scrap piece of fabric to each end of one of the fat quarter strips, and press, so that you end up with a strip approximately 9” by 34”. Press the fold line again to keep it crisp. 

Step 3 – Cutting pieces 

Put the freezer paper template for piece 1 on the longer strip cut from your fat quarter, aligning the straight edge of the template with the folded edge of the strip. Iron the freezer paper on to your fabric using a dry iron. Cut around the freezer paper template. Put the freezer paper template for piece 2 on the shorter strip cut from your fat quarter, aligning the straight edge of the template with the cut edge of the strip. Iron the freezer paper on to your fabric using a dry iron.

Cut around the freezer paper templates and remove.  You should now have a single version of piece 1, and two versions of piece 2 for the pockets.

Step 4 – Making your quilt sandwich 

Make a quilt sandwich in the following order, and baste using your preferred method:

 • backing fabric – right side down
 • Insul-Bright insulated batting
 • cotton batting
 • piece 1 – right side up

Step 5 – Quilting

Quilt as desired. For durability, I recommend that you quilt the oven mitt quite densely. Personally, I think this project is perfect for trying out a new free-motion quilting design. A small project is easier to manoeuvre and doesn’t take long to quilt even if the design is complicated or dense.  That said, I was in the mood for straight lines when I quilted this particular oven mitt, and I think they look good too!

Once the oven mitt is quilted, use the edge of the feature fabric as a guide and trim away the excess batting and backing fabric.

Step 6 – Add the pockets 

Take both of the pocket pieces and fold the straight edge over ¼” and press. Fold over another ¼” and press again to create a tidy hem. Top stitch along the edge of the hem on each piece.

Pin each pocket piece onto the quilted body of the oven mitt. Sew around the edge, about 1/8” from the edge. You won’t see these stitches once the oven mitt is bound, so don’t stress too much about making them perfect.

Step 7 – Binding

Pin the bias binding around the edge of the oven mitt, attaching it to the front side (with the pockets and feature fabric). Stitch in place using a quarter inch seam.

Finish the binding using your preferred method - I hand stitched mine down, but you could machine stitch it.

And you're done!

Thank you Adrianne!

Don't forget to link up your Q1 finishes - the Q1 post-quarter link is open and it will close at midnight MST, April 7, 2013. And if you still have some UFOs I hope you will join us for Q2 of the FAL, Q2 FAL lists can be posted starting on April 8.