sewing a heart hot pad

Step 1: Gather materials. You will need fabric for the front and back of your heart, batting, bias tape, scissors, and a pattern. You can use any fabric and batting but I would recommend not using synthetic fabric because it could melt.

Step 2: Let’s talk about our pattern for a second. My heart is 8 inches from high point to high point and 4 ¾ inches wide. The pattern is only ½ of a heart.

Step 3: Cut two full hearts out of the fabric you are using for the back of the hot pad. To do this fold your fabric in half and place your pattern (the ½ heart) on the fold with the straight edge on the fold. Cut around the pattern and open the fabric to reveal the heart. Repeat one more time to create two heart backing pieces.

Step 5: Next cut two full hearts and two half hearts of the batting material. I used different brands of batting here, that’s why they appear mismatched.

Step 6: Pin the fabric heart to the batting heart and quilt it down. You can make the quilting as simple or as complex as you wish. Here I just did straight lines.

Step 7: With the front fabric place one ½ heart face down (print side down) then place one of the ½ hearts of batting on top, next place another fabric ½ heart on top with the print side up. Repeat so you have two. Next cut a length of bias tape for the straight side of your heart. Sew down the bias tape.

Step 8: Next sew all the pieces together. You will be making a fabric sandwich with your pieces. To do this first lay down one of your fabric and batting hearts with the fabric side up to your work surface. Next place your two half heart pieces on top. Now place your last fabric and batting heart with the fabric side down, on top. Then stitch around with about ¼ -½ inch seam allowance leaving an opening to be able to turn it right side out. I added a small loop of bias tape to be able to hang it up.