I love making potholders from my scraps. My MIL prefers flannel ones, and they definintely get used. I use 3-4 layers of flannel.

One thing I do is to baste the back and batting together before sewing on the top. That keeps the batting from slipping around and bunching up.

One word of warning: If you combine flannel and quilting cotton in a potholder, it will shrink and warp. This is because flannel shrinks much more than cotton, even after a couple of washings. I have been told that in the "old days" this was sometimes done on purpose.

Would you give a little crash course in 'turning' the potholders, please?[/quote]

I trimmed the top, backing, one layer of Insulbrite (insulated batting, from Joann's), and one layer of 100% cotton (Warm and Natural) so they were all the same size, say 7" square. Make the sandwich:
insulbrite
cotton batting
backing, right side up
top, wrong side up.

If you want a loop for hanging, make it and insert between the backing and top, at one corner. It will get caught in the edge seam.

Sew around the edges, maybe 1/4" seams (or a little bigger), leaving about 4" open so you can turn it. I went a tiny bit diagonal across the corners, which worked out well (and it made the loop very tidy).

Trim the seams to 1/4" if needed. Turn right side out, hand sew the opening, and then do some quilting/top stitching as desired. I top-stitched about 1/2" from the edge, but you might do as little as 1/8".

I made a "test" potholder and not only is doing binding more work and a PITA, it also pays to use insulbrite. 3 layers of warm and natural are NOT enough! :D

Nice potholders.

I make quite a few potholders, for myself and others, and I use mine. Usually when I make them, it is to test out how a particular quilting design looks like with a particular block/color combo before I mess up a larger quilt. Sometimes it is to test out a new technique. That way i don't have a bunch of orphan blocks. I made several to play with color and practice picking colors.

I did have one potholder i liked so much that i hung it on my sewing room wall for awhile first, before I used it and got it dirty, but eventually I wanted the pretty in my kitchen and not on the wall, so I'm using it now.

Your potholders are great.
This is a good project for gifts. I will have to get busy.

Very nice!

Marcie,

Thanks for the instructions. That seems easy enough.

Cool pot holders. Thanks for sharing.

Really cute! Nice job.