Hot pads
 

I am making pot holders and hot pads as quilty gifts for a friends ladies group. Instead of batting I am using old towels. Two thicknesses is perfect for the hot pads!

That's what my mother used to do with our old thin towels. Back then had to use up whatever we had on hand. It was shoes for the kids or new stuff. So of course we kids learned to make new from old. Still do it today.

Very clever!

I received a gift of hotpads years ago, and found out she had used old towels when I accidentally set one on a hot burner and burnt through the back of one. It still works great though :)

I've been making mine with one layer of insul-bright, and one layer cut from an old towel.

I like to use old towels, too...no one is going to look inside...way to go green....and I like Sleepy Hollow's hybrid idea, too.

I like the old towels because the potholders work in my hand beter.

I have some tucked away in my cedar chest that have a piece of an old mattress pad in them. I made them for my Mom when I was about 7 years old. She used them a lot but saved them back when they started to show wear. So, I kept them also. I grew up in the era of making do with what you had. I still do.

I make dozens of hot pads and pot holders for a small craft shop. What a great idea! Will use up some of my old towels and save some money too.

I have a set of four pot holders made from the same towel. They are many years old and a few have burn holes in them that have been patched. They are my favorite pot holders. A little bit larger than most and just the right weight. The towel was a "hard" terry cloth, not fuzzy like you see on some. I just surged around the outside, and of course some of the surging is giving way too.
A friend threatened to buy me some new pot holders when she saw mine, but I told her to forget it, I wouldn't use them.

Very clever idea and I remember my grandmother (with whom I lived) using towels in hot pads and she also used old blankets in the middle of her quilts. I think we need to go back to that era and use whatever is available in our household. Think I was born in the wrong time as I love to use what I have.