Pocket Pot Holder (In-the-Hoop)

Bring personal style to your kitchen decor with colorful embroidered pot holders! This project stitches together entirely in-the-hoop, with insulating fabrics and a pocket to cover your hand. Delicious embroidery completes the look. We'll show you step-by-step how to stitch your own!

When you download an in-the-hoop pot holder design, you will find multiple files. Some are the embroidery files, and the others are dieline files marked with the letters "DL".

Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape and size.

Open and print each dieline file using embroidery software. If you do not have embroidery software, take a look at our helpful video on using dielines without software. We also recommend Wilcom's Hatch software which comes in different levels depending on what you'd like to use the software for. Hatch Organizer works well to view your designs, print dielines and templates, change design colors, and create basic design layouts. (This is an affiliate link, learn more about affiliate links here)

First spray one side of a piece of Insul-Bright with temporary adhesive. Smooth the Insul-Bright onto the wrong side of ironing board fabric piece. Make sure the shiny side of the ironing board fabric is facing out.

Then spray the opposite side of the same Insul-Bright piece with temporary adhesive. Smooth a piece of the lining fabric on that side, so you end up with a sandwich of lining fabric, Insul-Bright, and ironing board fabric.

Spray the back side of the printed back piece dieline with temporary adhesive, and smooth it onto the lining fabric.

Cut the back dieline shape out of the adhered lining, Insul-Bright, and ironing board fabric. Then remove the paper dieline.

To add a loop for hanging, cut a 6" piece of ribbon or a strap made from fabric.

Form it into a loop, and place the two ends of the loop between the Insul-Bright and ironing board fabric in the upper left hand corner. The temporary spray adhesive will hold it in place.

Spray the back of all of the remaining paper dielines with temporary adhesive. Then smooth them onto the right side of the appropriate fabrics.

Cut out all the remaining dieline pieces. These should only be fabric, and should not have Insul-Bright/cotton batting on the back.

Once all the fabric pieces are cut to the correct shapes, it's time to embroider the design. Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer.

Madeira E-Zee 1.5 oz or Floriani Tearaway Medium are good choices. Those brands are more fibrous, less like paper, and will tear more cleanly.

Attach the hoop onto the machine, and load the embroidery file (not the dieline files).

Use a 75/11 sharp sewing needle instead of an embroidery needle. The sharp sewing needle has a finer point, and it will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.

Embroider the design. The first thing to embroider will be a dieline (or outline stitch). This marks the area on the stabilizer where the fabric piece will be placed.

After the "pocket dieline" has sewn, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer.

Spray the wrong side of the front pocket fabric piece with temporary adhesive. Smooth the fabric piece onto the stabilizer inside of the sewn dieline.

Then place the hoop back onto the machine, and embroider the "pocket tackdown" for the fabric piece. The tackdown will hold the fabric piece in place for the remainder of the design.

Once the front fabric piece is stitched in place, embroider all the inner details. Make sure to stop before sewing the "pocket lining tackdown" step.

Before sewing the "pocket lining tackdown" step, remove the hoop from the machine, and turn it over so the back side of the embroidery is facing up. Then spray the back side of the pocket lining piece with temporary adhesive and smooth it into place on the back side of the embroidery.

As all the embroidery from here on out will be seen from both sides, wind a bobbin to match each of the remaining thread colors used into the design.

Place the bobbin into the machine, and follow the color change sheet to embroider the "pocket lining tackdown" as well as the "pocket finishing seam".

Then the "back piece dieline" will stitch onto the stabilizer to show where to place the back piece on the back side of the hoop. Stop before sewing the "back piece tackdown".

Before sewing the "back piece tackdown", turn the hoop over again, and spray the lining side of the back piece (which is a sandwich of lining fabric, Insul-Bright, and ironing board fabric. Smooth it in place on the back of the hoop so the lining of the back piece and the lining of the pocket are touching.

Then tape down the strap if you are including one.

Using a matching bobbin, sew the "back piece tackdown" and the "finishing seam". This will tack the back piece in place and embroider the final pretty edge around the pot holder.

Once the embroidery is finished, carefully tear the excess stabilizer away from the outside edges of the design.

Then also remove the remaining visible tearaway stabilizer from above the embroidery to open up the pocket.