Felted Wool Hot Pads

Sometimes we get a new product in that is so universally adored by the entire staff of Purl Soho that we know we need to make a Purl Bee project out of it. Our latest obsession is the new natural colorway of the Mary Flanagan Felted Wool called “Oatmeal”. It soft and fluffy and ever so slightly heathered in gorgeous natural ecru and brown shades. Every time I pass by it’s shelf in the store I want to pull it out and touch it.

I have always loved Mary Flanagan’s whole spectrum of  13-inch by 16-inch pieces of felted wool. They are so fluffy and soft. I’ve sewn it into all kinds of things, from baby dolls, to blankets, to mittens. This time I wanted to make something you could use, see, and touch every day. Page, Joelle, and I all brainstormed and come up with these fluffy hot pads, which are so easy to make!

In order to make one piece of precious felt into two hot pads we used Carr Textiles Organic Cotton Duck as a backing. This canvas weight fabric is so sturdy and comes in great colors. The natural color that we used is smooth and slightly flecked which compliments and contrasts with the wool nicely. To add a kitchen-y feel we accented them with bright red  Fettucia Cotton Ribbon and did some simple quilting with bright red cotton thread. They are sewn with two layers of our thickest cotton batting making them very heat resistant and super lofty. Their rectangular shape makes them ideal for grabbing hot dishes out of the oven and holding onto pan handles. They are also pretty enough to use as trivets directly on the table.

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Molly Schnick. Click here to see even more of Molly’s work!

Materials

To make two 7-inch by 12-inch hot pads:

• 1 piece of Mary Flanagan Felted Wool in Oatmeal
• 1/4-yard of Organic Cotton Duck in Natural
• 1 yard of Fettucia Ribbon in Red
• 1 craft sized package of Supreme Cotton Batting
• Bright red cotton thread (color 4880)
• Ecru cotton thread (color 1040)

Pattern

Cutting

Cut the wool felt into two 8-inch X 13-inch pieces.

Cut the cotton duck into two 8-inch X 13-inch pieces.

Cut the batting into four 8-inch X 13-inch pieces.

Cut two 7-inch lengths of the ribbon.

You will use 1 wool felt piece, one cotton duck piece, two pieces of batting, and one length of ribbon per hot pad.

Pinning

Lay one piece of batting down and smooth it flat. Lay a piece of cotton duck on top of the batting and then place the doubled length of ribbon in the middle of the top short side of the piece as shown above.

Lay the wool felt on top of the batting, duck, and ribbon, making sure to keep the ribbon in place. Then place the second piece of batting on top of all the other layers. Your quilt “sandwich” should now be in the following order: batting, duck, ribbon, felt, batting.

Pin through all of the layers along three sides, leaving the short side that does not contain the ribbon un-pinned.

Sewing

Using your machine’s walking foot and the ecru thread sew the layers together with a 1/2-inch seam allowance along the three pinned sides, leaving the un-pinned side open.

Turn the piece right side out. The ribbon should poke out at the top like so.

Tuck the raw edges of the un-sewn side 1/2-inch into themselves and pin the opening closed.

Hand sew the open edge closed with a blind stitch using the ecru thread.

Quilting

Mark the area or areas that you would like to quilt. I used a Hera Marker to make a small crease across the middle of the hot pad. You can add as many quilted lines as you like or as few as one in the middle, as I did in the example.

Using the red thread and your machine’s walking foot, quilt along the mark (or markings as the case may be).

Go forwards and backwards along the quilted line(s) to make a bold red line as shown above.

Repeat for the second hot pad and you’re all done!