DIY Pretty Patchwork Oven Mitts - Pattern & Tutorial

With a week and a half left until Mothers Day, I thought I'd post the pattern and instructions for my patchwork oven mitts!

These gloves make such a great gift - they're actually useful! And so fun to customise for different colour schemes. I wanted bright oranges and yellow to compliment the light blue walls in my kitchen. For my mother's gloves, I used olive greens and browns - they should look lovely with the earthy colours and dark wooden floors throughout her house :)

Materials:

• Glove pattern
• 3 fat quarters/large scraps of quilting weight cotton in your chosen colours
• Cotton wadding/batting fabric
• Cotton lining fabric
• Matching thread
• Small piece of string or ribbon (for hanging)

Tools:

• Printer & two sheets of paper
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• Ruler
• Pins
• Iron
• Sewing machine

I used a 100% cotton wadding fabric that's available in most fabric stores. If you can't find any of the cotton stuff, most store-bought oven mitts have polyester wadding inside, so you should be safe using that instead.
For lining, anything cotton will do. My lining fabric is a very thin cotton shirting from my stash, but even cheesecloth would look lovely.

Before you begin, be sure to prewash your fabrics to avoid shrinkage or puckering later. Treat them as you would treat a pair of used oven mitts! And press with plenty of heat/steam.

• Download, print and assemble the 2 page pattern. Cut out the glove shape and keep in one piece for now.

• Cut your lining and wadding pieces as follows:

Adding your own seam allowance, cut 4 lining pieces. Mark the stitch line around the inside of the thumb onto all 4 pieces. This will make stitching it all together later much easier.

Your wadding pieces do not need a seam allowance.
How many pieces you cut will depend on the thickness of your wadding. If your wadding is thick enough to hold hot objects, cut 4 pieces. My cotton wadding was a little thin, so I used a double layer and cut 8 pieces.

Side note: If you plan on making multiple pairs of these oven mitts (all of the birthdays!), it might be a good idea to cut out all of your lining and wadding pieces now. It is the most tedious part of the project, and you'll be so relieved that it's already done when you start the next pair!

• Now you can cut your pattern along the lines into 4 segments. 
• Fold your fat quarters/scraps in half twice, so that you are cutting 4 layers at once. Adding seam allowance, trace and cut out your pieces. Lay out all of your pieces so that you know which ones go together.
• Neatly stitch all of your pieces together and press them flat. You should now have 4 glove shaped pieces!

• Now you're making 4 fabric sandwiches! Lay your wadding piece(s) on top of your outer layer, and your lining piece on top of that. Right sides should be facing outwards. Pin your sandwich together.

• Time for some quilting! Now, I'm not much of a quilter, so I'm sure there's another way to do this, but this is how I sew straight lines: place a thin ruler (or something similar) just to the left of your needle. Line it up straight and lower your presser foot to hold it in place. Keep the ruler straight and use it as a guide as you sew!
• Repeat for all 4 of your fabric sandwiches. 

• Take either side of one glove, and pin together with ride sides facing. Stitch around the edge (leaving the bottom end open). Follow the line you marked earlier when stitching around the thumb. Repeat for the other glove.

• Clip your seam allowances with pinking shears, or trim and finish with a small zigzag stitch. Clip the curves around the inside of the thumb, being careful not to cut across the stitch line.
• Turn your gloves inside out and press flat. Trim the bottom edges.

• Make and attach your own bias binding for a lovely contrast edge. Here are some lovely tutorials if you need help: [making bias binding] [attaching bias binding]. 
• Knot a loop of string or ribbon and fasten inside the corner of each glove. 
• Get baking with your awesome, one-of-a-kind oven mitts!

If you make a pair of gloves, I'd love to see them! :)

Let me know in the comments, send me an email, or tag them on instagram with #fozzelandbean!

I hope you've enjoyed my very first tutorial!