Scrappy Hot Pad/Pot Holder/Tea Pot Pad Tutorial

I have a neighbor and she's the bomb.
She lets me pop in at any time and never makes me feel like I'm intruding.
She offers me tea, coffee or water all the time.
Her boys crack me up and are super sweet.
She has beautiful curly blonde hair.
She often drops off baked goods or dinner.
She is as sweet as vanilla ice cream. seriously.

She is a hot tea LOVER!

So I made her this Tea Pot Hot Pad, but it could really be an anything hot pad.
Wanna make one? Its fun and easy. Here is my version:

Choose 5-6 different fabrics.

Cut strips. I cut two 1 inch by 9 inches, and three 2 inches by 9 inches.

Sew them together, however you want. Skinnies together or opposite whatever suits your fancy.

See? I did a skinny sandwich

After I got done sewing my five stripes, I realized that the whole thing wasnt wide enough, so I cut another fat strip and attached it to one end.

All sewn together.

I like to iron the seams flat, it makes it smoother and prettier.

Now, pull out the bunting and fold it in half. Lay your strips face up and cut around the square.

So you have two layers of the bunting under the strips.

Lay the whole thing right sides together on another piece of fabric and cut around. The picture above is after I cut the backing (brown polka dots)

Start sewing all the way around, bunting and all.

Stop about 2-3 inches before you hit where you started. This will allow you to turn the whole thing inside out, so the bunting will now be on the inside and the backing and strips on the outside. Before you turn inside out, I like to cut the corners off, to make it easy for the corners to pop out after you turn it.


Turned inside out. See?
Before you sew it shut, take your scissors and press the corners out, it will make them more cornery (it's a word...maybe)

Fold the edges of the opening inside the holder and sew it shut. continue sewing all the way around the outside of the holder.

Now, from here, you can be done or you can sew all along the top to do a quilting pattern. I just sewed lines down on each side once. I like how it looks. You can really see it on the brown backing.