Okay. I had to do the same thing. Never heard of it! I live in a little hick town where we only get what Walmart gets.

I use 3 layers of warm and natural.

I'm with the, 'Better to be safe than sorry' brigade and always use Insul-Bright. People didn't use it in the old days because it wasn't available (they also used to put butter on burns too.......).

I think the fact that you are using these as prizes at a Senior Centre makes the question irrelevant really - imho.

I don't like Insulbrite. I don't like the feel of it and it's messy to cut. I like the heat resistant silver fabric. I put a layer of warm and natural batting with the silver and it works much better to keep the heat away then insulbrite and has less bulk.

This looks great to me. I was just thinking about making some potholders and wondering what to put inside. Thanks!

I made potholders for myself just using W&N batting - can't remember if I used 2 or 3 layers, but I think it was only 2. They work just fine, no heat coming through. The design I used winds up with several layers of fabric in addition to the batting, so that might be a factor. If you're really concerned, make one without Insulbrite and test it out. Chances are it will be just fine.

Is this also called BUMP?

I was wondering the same thing. I have a pattern for an oven mitt that says you're suppose to sandwich one layer of Insulbrite in between two layers of Warm & Natural. Well, by the time you do all of the layering, the pile of fabric and batting is so thick it hardly fits into the machine. Plus... the pot holder or hot pad... whatever it is you're making is so stiff it's hard to use. So, I'm really confused on this one. I certainly don't want anyone to burn themselves but at the same time, if something is so thick you can't use it, what good is it?

Wow that stuff is pricey!!

The last time I made potholders I just used two layers of Request weight Dream Cotton. The main thing is to not quilt them very much. I gave them to a whole bunch of people and nobody has complained yet. I use mine all the time and if something is particularly hot they're soft enough and big enough I can fold them in half.