Pot Holders (In-the-Hoop)

Bring color and personality into your kitchen with pot holders stitched entirely in-the-hoop! Thermal lining and ironing board keep your hands nice and cool, while cotton fabrics add texture and charm. Follow these step-by-step instructions to stitch your pot holder!

These in-the-hoop potholder designs have three or more files, One is the full embroidery file The others are dieline files marked with the letters DL. Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the right shape and size.

Open the dieline files with embroidery software and print them. If you do not have embroidery software, Wilcom's TrueSizer is a free program to use.

Spray the backside of the printed front dieline with a small amount of temporary adhesive. Smooth it onto the quilted cotton.

Cut out the two opposite shapes.

Then repeat, and use the same printed dielines to cut the front shapes out of the lightweight cotton.

The back piece will be a sandwich (or stack) or three different fabrics. To make this sandwich, lay the ironing board fabric with the right side down on the table, and spray with temporary spray adhesive.

Then smooth the Insul-Bright on the wrong side of the ironing board fabric.

Next, spray the exposed side of the Insul-Bright with temporary spray adhesive.

Smooth the lightweight cotton fabric over the Insul-Bright.

Finally, spray the backside of the paper dieline, and smooth it on top of the cotton. Cut out the shape, making sure to cut through all the layers.

If the design has other dieline files, for applique pieces or felt appendages, cut those shapes out of the appropriate fabric, too. (These ears and antlers are from the Reindeer Pot Holder.)

Now that the fabric pieces are cut to the proper shape and size, it's time to embroider the design.

Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer. Madeira E-Zee Tear 1.5 oz. or Floriani Tearaway Medium are good choices. Those brands are more fibrous, less paper-like, and will tear more cleanly.

Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle, rather than an embroidery needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller, finer point than an embroidery needle, so that will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.

Attach the hoop to the machine and load the full embroidery design (not the dieline files). Embroider the design.

The first thing to embroider will be a dieline or outline. This marks the area on the stabilizer for the front pieces.

Reference the color change sheet for the design as you stitch. That sheet tells you what is stitched in each step.

CC1 is a dieline, or outline stitch, that traces the shape for the front fabric pieces.

Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Spray the back side of the front fabric pieces with temporary adhesive.

Place the fabric pieces right inside the dielines.

Attach the hoop back onto the machine and continue with the design. A tack down will sew next. This holds the front fabric in place for the remainder of the design.

Then the details will embroider onto the front pieces. If using a design with applique pieces, follow the color change sheet and add them after their dielines sew.

Stop the machine before embroidering the step called "inner borders". Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Flip the hoop over.

Spray the backside of the two front, lightweight cotton pieces with temporary spray adhesive.

Place the fabric pieces inside the dielines on the back of the hoop.

If the design has felt appendages, such as this Reindeer Pot Holder, position them where you want them and tape them in place.

The two front fabric pieces will cover the inner edges of the felt shapes.

Since both sides of the stitching will be seen now, wind a bobbin with the same thread used in the needle.

Continue to embroider the design. A tackdown will sew to hold all the pieces in place, and then the inner border will stitch out.

Embroider the "back piece dieline," but stop the machine before sewing the "back piece tackdown." Remove the hoop, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Flip the hoop over so the backside is facing up.

Take the back fabric piece, and spray just the edges of the cotton side with temporary adhesive. Place it inside the sewn dieline on the back of the hoop with the cotton side facing down.

Finish embroidering the design. The final step to stitch is the "outer border" which will finish all the edges.

Once the embroidery is finished, unhoop the embroidery, and remove the excess stabilizer from around the design.

Finally, remove the small strip of stabilizer from the front of the pot holder.