Here’s My Heart Potholder Pattern for Heart-Shaped Oven Mitts

Put some love in your kitchen with my heart potholder pattern. It’s fat-quarter-friendly. These easy-to-sew hot pads make great gifts for teachers, neighbors, friends, and your Valentine!

Say I love you with a pair of beautiful hot pads that will say ‘I care so much that I don’t want you to get burned!’

This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. The free Here’s My Heart Potholder Pattern is included in the blog post below and is free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. The PDF download is inexpensive and optional. Did you know you can get ALL the Optimized for Printing PDF files organized in a library to access anytime you want? Check it out.

The front of this heart potholder has an opening with bound edges. Stick your hand in the opening so you can use it like an oven mitt!

Don’t miss my Folded Fabric Coasters and Potholders that you can sew for any season!

Heart Potholder Finished Dimensions

The finished heart potholders are approximately 9” tall and 12” wide. The front and the back of the potholders have an optional heart shaped quilting design.

You’ll need less than a fat quarter of fabric each for the outer fabric and the lining, plus some insulated batting. I also used an optional layer of cotton quilt batting on each piece to make my potholders thicker. The insulated batting is the important layer that will keep you from getting burned.

Tips for Choosing Materials

Cotton is the best fabric to use when making potholders. This project works well with cotton quilting fabric because of the thick layers of fabric and insulated batting. One fat quarter of fabric is enough to cut the hot pad exterior, and you’ll need another one for the lining. Feel free to use your less-favorite fabric for the lining because it will barely show.

I used cotton thread on most of my potholders, but high-quality polyester thread is fine too because it is made to hold up to high heat.

You must use a layer of insulated batting such as Insulbrite brand wherever you want heat protection. There is Insulbright on both sides of these potholders, so the backs of your hands won’t get burned if they are inside. Insulbright is reversible, so it doesn’t matter what side is up – both sides are protective.

I like puffy potholders, so I used a layer of cotton batting in addition to the Insulbright on both sides of my potholders. This is optional if you would like thinner hot pads. If you use cotton batting like I did, be sure to use a heavy duty needle, such as 90/14 or 100/16.

So let’s get started making heart shaped potholders!

Here’s My Heart Potholder Pattern

The template above includes 2 pages. Print at 100%; do not enlarge or reduce the template. The first page contains the cutting template. The second page is a heart-shaped tracing template to trace the quilting design.

You Will Need:

• 1/4 yard of fabric for the potholder exterior
• 1/4 yard of fabric for the lining
• Small pieces or scraps of coordinating fabric for the binding and hanging loop
• 1/4 yard insulated batting such as Insulbrite brand
• Thread
• Fabric marking pen
• Optional: Quilt basting spray (such as 505 or SpraynBond)
• Cutting tools: scissors, or rotary cutter and cutting mat
• Sewing pins
• A sewing machine and sewing machine needle (size 90/14 or larger suggested)
• Chopstick or turning tool
• Recommended: a walking foot for your sewing machine

Cutting Instructions

From the exterior fabric, cut:

• 1 heart piece with the template placed on the fold of fabric (for the potholder back)
• 2 half-heart pieces with the template fabric tree not on the fold, one piece reversed (for the potholder front)

From the lining fabric, cut:

• 1 heart piece with the template placed on the fold of fabric (for the potholder back)
• 2 half-heart pieces with the template fabric tree not on the fold, one piece reversed (for the potholder front)

From the small pieces or scraps of coordinating fabric, cut:

• 1 rectangle of fabric 2” x 6” to make the hanging loop
• 2 rectangles of fabric 2 1/4” x 8 1/2

From the insulated batting, cut:

• 1 heart piece with the template placed on the fold of the interfacing (for the potholder back)
• 2 half-heart pieces with the template fabric tree not on the fold, one piece reversed (for the potholder front)

Optional: from cotton quilt batting, cut:

• 1 heart piece with the template placed on the fold of batting (for the potholder back)
• 2 half-heart pieces with the template fabric tree not on the fold, one piece reversed (for the potholder front)

How to Make a Heart Shaped Potholder

Use a 1/4” seam allowance for basting and a 1/2” seam allowance for sewing the seam in the last step.

Make the Hanging Loop

1. Fold the 2” x 6” fabric strip in half lengthwise (wrong side together) and press. Then open it and fold the long edges to the center, press.

2. Topstitch along both long edges, close to the edge.

Baste The Potholder Layers Together

1. Place the cotton batting heart against the wrong side of the exterior fabric heart and the Insulbright heart against the wrong side of the lining fabric heart. Then put all four layers together in one ‘stack’ so that the batting and insulbright are on the inside and the fabrics are facing out.

It’s important that these layers are lined up as closely as possible when you baste them together. Using a walking foot on your sewing machine instead of a regular presser foot will help prevent the layers from shifting. I suggest using quilt basting spray to adhere the layers together to prevent shifting, especially if you don’t have a walking foot.

2. Pin around the edges of the heart. The more pins the better!

Repeat to make fabric, batting, and interfacing ‘stacks’ with the half-heart pieces for the front of the potholder. Use lots of pins to hold the layers together.

3. Baste around the edges of all three ‘stacks’ 1/4” from the edge.

Quilt a Heart Shaped Design on the Front and the Back

1. Place the ‘heart for tracing quilting design’ in the center of the potholder back piece and trace it with the fabric marking pen.

Make sure you trace the quilting design on the potholder exterior, not the lining.

2. Put the two half-heart pieces for the front together. Lay the heart on top, and trace around it as before. Tracing the heart this way will ensure that your quilted heart design lines up on the front of the potholder!

3. Quilt along the traced lines of all three pieces.

You can use any quilting stitch you like. I used my sewing machine’s triple stitch (or bean stitch) to accentuate the quilting.

4. Fold the hanging loop in half. Pin it to the right side of one half-heart front piece with the raw edges of the hanging loop and the heart together.

5. Sew the hanging loop in place 1/4” away from the edge.

Bind the Straight Edges of the Potholder Front

1. Fold the 2” x 8 1/2” strips of fabric in half lengthwise, wrong side together. Press.

2. Lay one strip on the wrong side of a half-heart piece, along the straight edge. The raw edges should be together.

3. Sew the binding to the half-heart with a 1/4” seam allowance.

4. Flip the binding over to the front. Topstitch it down close to the edge.

Repeat to bind the other half-heart piece.

Assemble the Heart Potholder

1. Place the whole heart (back piece) on your workspace right side up. Place the half-heart pieces right side down on top. Pin around the edges.

2. All the way around the heart with a 1/2” seam allowance.

This wide seam allowance allowed in this pattern will help prevent holes in your potholder if the layers shift a little. Don’t let them shift a lot.

3. Trim around the potholder close to the stitching (1/8-1/4”) without cutting the stitching.

4. Turn the potholder right side out through the opening. Use your fingers to push the seams out from the inside. Press.

5. Topstitch all the way around the potholder 1/4” from the edge.

Before using Insulbright insulated batting in all of my potholder designs, I tested it extensively. As my final test, I cut a 10” single-layer square of Insulbright and used it all alone for all my baking for months. I could not feel heat through the single layer of batting until the oven temperature was 400 degrees and above. Even then, I did not get burned; I could simply feel some warmth, similar to store-bought potholders. Insulbright is a wonderful product. I am not paid to use it, but I do!

Who do you love enough to say ‘here’s my heart potholder?’

As always, I love to see what you make with my tutorials. Please post a picture to Instagram and tag me @sewcanshe or #sewcanshe so I can see!

I’m adding these potholders to my collection of Easy Valentines Gifts to Sew.

Make sure you check out all my free sewing patterns.

Happy sewing,