I was looking around on Pinterest for a small random gift ideas to sew for friends and family when I stumbled across “pinch” style pot holders like these and these.  I realized I’m still using ordinary (boring!) pot holders myself, so I made a test one for our house, using cute Hello Kitty fabric my friend Kaori sent me from Japan.

Love those little faces!  (Thank you again, Kaori!)

If you decide to make some of your own, be sure to use two layers of Insul-Bright along with a layer of batting to really protect you from the heat.  Here’s my finished pot holder beside the materials for my second one.  (Gotta protect both hands, right?)

I was surprised just how much batting gets packed into those little mitts!  A walking foot is essential, along with lots and lots of pinning to keep everything from shifting during stitching.

When I showed these to a friend, she warned me to make a “Pot Holder” tag for them if I mailed them to people as a random gift.  She said if I’d sent her one without explaining it first, she’d have never known what in the world that little puppet thing was for.  :)

Happy sewing!