I have a small scar on the inside of my forearm from the Great Cookie Tray Debacle of 2009. If you’re a multi-tasker, and most creative folks are multi-taskers, I’m sure you can relate. Just because you’re doing your holiday baking doesn’t mean you aren’t also doing three or four other things, such as talking on the phone, scolding the children, trying to step over the dog… Soooooo, when you pull those cookie trays out of the oven, you may not be paying attention like you should. Ouch! This (and a few other scars) is why I’ve switched to oven mitts. They have better coverage for my hands and continue up my arms. Our adorable set is made from Malka Dubrawsky’s gorgeous Simple Marks collection for Moda Fabrics. We used Fat Quarters, which are a great way to test a collection. Each mitt takes just two Fat Quarters. You can buy a complete 40-piece Fat quarter bundle, which includes 18″ x 22″ cuts from all the patterns and colorways, and make oven mitts to protect your entire extended, multi-tasking family! 

Our thanks to Moda Fabrics for sponsoring this month’s series. We have over three weeks of projects and how-to tutorials to get you through the holidays and thinking about those 2013 sewing resolutions.

If you are new to the fabric of Malka Dubrawsky, we predict it will be love at first site. Her very artistic design is summed up well in this quote from a 2010 interview, “I’m probably most influenced by patterning. Whether it’s the way bricks are stacked in a building or a beautifully tiled floor, I tend to react first to graphic images. I do get inspired by colors as well, especially in random situations, for instance, when I see two different flowers growing alongside each other in a garden or bolts of fabric displayed in a row.”

Simple Marks came out last month, November 2012, and can be purchased now from many of your favorite online and in-store Moda retailers. We found a great selection at Sew4Home Marketplace vendor, Fat quarter Shop. Simple Marks Summer will be available in April of 2013.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome DC2012)
• Open Toe Quilting Foot with Quilt Bar (optional)

Fabric and Other Supplies

Supplies listed below are for TWO coordinating (but not exactly matching) oven mitts; you could make just one, but then your other Hand would be sad.

• FOUR Fat Quarters (if you choose not to use Fat Quarters, you’ll need ½ yard cuts from four coordinating fabrics); we used the following four prints from Simple Marks by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda Fabrics:
  Cypress Pools for the exterior of mitt one
  Moss Fields for the exterior of mitt two
  Cypress Speckled Dots for the Lining of mitt one, as well as the top Binding and D-ring loop of both mitts
  Moss Trails for the Lining of mitt two
• ½ yard of 45″ wide insulated fleece: we used Insul-Bright by The Warm Company
• ¼ yard of medium-weight Fusible interfacing; we used Pellon’s Designer’s Lite™
• TWO ¾” D rings
• All purpose Thread to match fabrics
• See-through Ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors or Rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Straight Pins

Getting Started

1. Download and print the Oven Mitt Top and Oven Mitt Bottom patterns.
   IMPORTANT: Each pattern download consists of ONE 8½” x 11″ sheet. You must print the PDF files at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page.
2. Cut out each piece along the solid line and tape together at the points indicated by the arrows.
3. From the Insul-Bright, use the pattern to cut FOUR mitts. Cut two with the thumb facing left, and two with the thumb facing right.
4. Fold the exterior fabric for mitt one (Cypress Pools in our sample) wrong sides together, and use the pattern to cut TWO mitts.
5. Fold the exterior fabric for mitt two (Moss Fields in our sample), wrong sides together, and use the pattern to cut TWO mitts.
6. From the Lining fabric for mitt one, which is also the Binding and loop fabric (Cypress Speckled Dots in our sample), cut the following:
   Fold the fabric, wrong sides together, and use the pattern to cut TWO mitts
   TWO 3″ x 13″ strips for the bindings
   TWO 4″ x 1½” strips for the loops
7. Fold the Lining fabric for mitt two (Moss Trails in our sample), wrong sides together, and use the pattern to cut TWO mitts.
   NOTE: You are folding the fabric each time so you don’t end up with two left or two right hands.
   
8. From the medium-weight interfacing, cut TWO 2″ x 12″ strips
9. When done, for each mitt, you should have two of each layer (exterior, thermal and Lining) that match up when placed together.
   

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

1. Place a thermal mitt Right side up (shiny side up) on your work surface.
2. Place an exterior mitt Right side up on top of the thermal mitt.
   
3. Align the pieces so the two mitts match up perfectly. Pin in place around the edges as well as some in the middle. The quilting steps are next and you don’t want your layers to shift.
4. Repeat to layer the remaining three exterior pairs.
5. With the exterior layer Right side up, quilt parallel vertical lines, 1″ apart, across the width of each layered mitt.
6. We used our Janome Open Toe Quilt foot with the quilt bar. The quilt bar runs along your previous stitch line, keeping your new stitch line perfectly parallel. The quilt bar is adjustable so we could adjust to our 1″ width. If you do not have a quilt bar option on your machine, you can simply draw lines onto the exterior to follow (make sure your fabric pen or pencil easily wipes away or vanishes with exposure to air since you are working on the Right side of the fabric).
7. Repeat to quilt the remaining three layered sets.
8. The photo below shows you two finished quilted exterior mitts paired up with their two plain Lining pieces. This photo is just to show you how everything matches up – the exterior and Lining are sewn together separately.
   
9. Place a quilted front and back right sides together, matching all raw edges. Pin around the outside edge, leaving the top open.
10. Place the un-quilted Lining pieces right sides together, also matching all raw edges. Pin around the outside edge, leaving the top open.
11. Using a ½” Seam allowance, stitch the front and back exterior pieces together through all four layers. Double stitch the curve from the thumb to the finger area to reinforce.
12. Grade the Seam allowance (make one side of the Seam allowance slightly smaller than the other) around all curves. Clip the curves and clip into the ‘V’ of the thumb, but be careful you don’t clip the stitching!
13. Turn the exterior mitts Right side out.
14. Using a ⅝” Seam allowance, stitch the front and back Lining pieces together. Trim the Seam allowance back to approximately ¼”. Keep the Lining mitts Wrong side out.
    
15. Slip a Lining mitt inside each exterior mitt. Adjust as needed so the two pieces fit together flat and the top raw edges of the open ends are flush. As an option, you can baste the layers together around the top edge as an extra protection against the layers shifting.
    
16. Set the mitts aside.

Binding and loops

1. Find your two 4″ x 1½” hanging loop rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half (so it is now 4″ x ¾) right sides together. Using a ¼” allowance, stitch along the 4″ side of each folded strip.
2. Turn Right side out through the open ends and Press flat.
3. Fold the finished strips in half to make a loop.
4. Find the 13″ x 3″ Binding strip and the 10″ x 2″ interfacing strip. Center an interfacing side to side and top to bottom on the Wrong side of each Binding strip. you should have ½” of fabric showing all around. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing in place.
5. Fold back each long side by ½” and Press well.
6. Fold the Binding strip in half, wrong sides together, so all the folded edges align.
   
7. Slip each loop through a D-ring.
   
8. Find the two mitts. Place them side by side on your work surface with the raw top edges facing up, sewn rounded ends facing down, and with the thumb of one mitt facing right and the thumb of the other mitt facing left. The side facing up is what will be the “top” of each mitt so make sure you are happy that this is your “best” side.
9. Place one folded loop at the center top of each mitt. The raw edges of the loop should be flush with the raw top edges of the mitt. Machine or Hand baste the loops in place close to the Raw edge.
10. Open up each Binding strip again along the center and unfold one long side so just the crease line in visible. Place the raw ends right sides together, aligning the folds and the crease lines, forming a loop. Pin in place. Stitch the ends together, using a ½” Seam allowance.
11. Press open the Seam allowance, turn the loop Right side out, and and re-fold it along the original crease line.
12. Slip this Binding loop inside the top raw edges of each mitt so the folded edge is facing down and the unfolded Raw edge is flush with the top raw edges of the mitt layers. A hanging loop is still pinned in place on in mitt. Pin the Binding to the mitt all around the top.
13. Stitch in place, following along in the crease line. If your machine has a free are, now is a great time to use it.
14. Fold the Binding up and over the top raw edges. Pin in place on the front, covering the raw end of the hanging loop with the cuff.
    
15. Topstitch the Binding in place, staying approximately ¼” or less from the lower edge. Again, now’s a great time for that free arm.
    
    NOTE: If your machine does not have a free arm, you can Hand stitch the Binding in place with a Slip stitch or a whip stitch.
    
     

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Aimee McGaffey