How To Sew A Pocket Potholder Using The Cricut Maker

This is a tutorial for sewing with the Cricut Maker.

Having recently purchased a Cricut Maker, I couldn’t wait to design a project for it. If you haven’t heard about the Cricut Maker, let me tell you it is a new version of the orignal Cricut. It now cuts fabric without any bonding to stiffen the fabric.

The Cricut Maker uses a special rotary blade and fabric mat to cut the fabric perfectly. No ragged edges. Just beautifully cut edges.

Two finished potholders with pumpkin appliqué.

Free Cricut Sewing Project – Potholders

I designed this simple potholder to be cut with the Cricut Maker. You can access the free file in Cricut Design Space. The pumpkin shape is also a free cut file within Cricut Design Space. Just search for pumpkin.

This is a beginner sewing project. You can make your own potholders with just scraps of fabric!

I love to decorate with pumpkins. I just can’t have too many pumpkins. So, for another Cricut sewing project, I have designed a free file for stuffed fabric pumpkins that you can sew using your Cricut Maker and your sewing machine.

You don’t need a Cricut Maker to sew this pocket potholder but having one makes the process easier and more exact. Sewing with the Cricut Maker is another tool that speeds along the cutting process by making your cut pieces more accurate than cutting by hand.

Cricut Maker machine with rotary blade attached.

I have also included cutting measurements if you don’t have a Cricut Maker.

Below is the rotary blade on the Cricut Maker that cuts fabric. It is amazing. This cutting blade is made specifically to cut fabric. The fabric cuts are accurate and fast. I love sewing with the Cricut Maker.

Cricut Maker rotary blade on plaid fabric.

Use The Pink Cutting Mat

When cutting fabric with the Cricut Maker be sure to use the pink cutting mat. This mat is made specifically for fabric. Also do not scrape this mat like you would the green mat. It has special adhesive that could be damaged by scraping. Those threads left on the pink mat are fine. They won’t interfere with the mat holding the fabric.

These pocket pot holders fit the bill or hand should I say. No more burns. Have you reached into your oven only to burn the top of your hand? No more with this pocket potholder.

You can sew a pocket potholder in about an hour.

These simple potholders would make great gifts. Everyone always needs new potholders.

Have Fun With Mismatched Fabrics

Having had this plaid fabric for years, I really wanted to use it up. I also wanted to use a contrasting fabric. There was nothing in my fabric stash to match the plaid. Then I happened upon this floral fabric peaking out in my over abundance of fabric scraps. The floral wasn’t particularly fall. Not really what I wanted. Being desperate not to buy anymore fabric I decided to use it. The results came out better than my original vision. Don’t you love when that happens? Sometimes having limited resources gives you the better result.

A Note About Insul-Bright

Insul-Bright is a heat resistant batting that is not recommended to be used in the microwave. It can be found in most sewing and craft stores.

Cotton Batting

Use only cotton batting for the potholder. Polyester batting can melt when heated.

Instructions For Sewing A Pocket Potholder

For this Cricut sewing project,  you will need:

Supplies for one potholder:

  • 1/2 yard Insul-Bright ( heat resistant batting )
  • 1/2 yard Cotton batting (do not use polyester batting)
  • 1/2 yard 100% cotton fabric
  • Scrap of contrast fabric for pumpkin appliqué
  • Heat and Bond Lite
  • 44 inches Bias Binding (purchased or hand made)
  • 3 inch  piece of ribbon for hanging loop
  • Matching thread
  • Sewing Machine

Cutting With The Cricut Maker

First, grab the free pocket potholder design file.

There are 8 cutting mats.

  • Mat 1 and 2 cuts the potholder base
  • Mat 3 cuts Insul-Bright for the potholder base
  • Mat 4 cuts Cotton Batting for the  potholder base
  • Mat 5 cuts Insul-Bright for the pocket piece
  • Mat 6 cuts Cotton Batting for the pocket piece
  • Mat 7 and 8 cuts the pocket pieces

Cutting By Hand Measurements

  • 2 pieces of cotton fabric 9 1/2″ x 8″ for potholder base
  • 2 pieces of cotton fabric 8″ x 8″ for potholder pocket
  • 1 piece of Insul-Bright 9 1/2″ x 8″ for potholder base
  • 1 piece of Cotton Batting 9 1/2″ x 8″ for potholder base
  • 1 piece of Insul-Bright  8″ x 8″ for potholder pocket
  • 1 piece of Cotton Batting  8″ x 8″ for potholder pocket
Potholder layers and pieces laying on a cutting mat.

Layer Fabric and Batting Pieces

The first step is to create a sandwich of the top and bottom fabric with the Insul-Bright and cotton batting in between.

Place one back fabric piece right side down with Insul-Bright and cotton batting on top. Layer the other piece of back fabric facing right side up on top. Safety pin the layers together so they don’t shift while quilting.

Repeat this for the pocket piece using one layer of Insul-Bright and one layer of cotton batting along with the fabric pieces.

Quilting The Potholder Pieces

I used an open toe presser foot with a quilting bar attached to do a diamond quilt pattern. The quilting bar helps to keep the sewn rows even. You can use any presser foot.

If you don’t have a quilting bar, you can draw lines on your fabric with a washable fabric pen and ruler. You can make the spacing how wide you desire.

I used about an 1 1/2 inch spacing. I sewed on the diagonal in one direction then turned the fabric 45 degrees and sewed the other direction. This gave me the diamond quilting.

Hands guiding the quilting of the potholder using a quilting bar.

Begin sewing the back piece by first stitching rows across the entire piece. Start at a corner to achieve a 45 degree angle. Then turn your back piece around to start sewing rows in the opposite direction to form the diamond shape. Remove safety pins as you sew to them. Continue until the entire back piece is quilted.

Repeat this for the pocket piece.

If your layers shifted while quilting, you will need to square up the pocket piece and the main potholder piece. Trim away any ragged edges. The edges need to be even all the way around both potholder pieces. When trimming ensure that the pocket piece still matches the main potholder piece.

Hands holding the diamond quilting on the potholder.

Pumpkin Applique’

Adhere Heat and Bond Lite to a scrap piece of fabric. Either cut out the pumpkin piece by hand or with the Cricut Maker. I found the pumpkin shape in Cricut Design Space.

Iron the pumpkin shape onto the middle of the pocket piece. Using a  dense zig zag, slowly stitch around the pumpkin piece.

It is best to sew slow when appliquéing to get the best coverage.

Zig Zag The Edges Of The Potholder Pieces

Hands guiding the stitching of the edges of the potholder.

Using a zig zag stitch, sew around all four edges of the back potholder piece.

Repeat this for the pocket piece.

This compresses the edges making them easier to bind.

Hands holding the zig zag edges of the potholder.

Using either purchased binding or hand made binding The next step is to bind the pocket piece.

Pumpkin appliqué on front of plaid fabric.

Sewing The Binding On The Potholder

Cut a piece of bias binding the length of the top of the pocket piece. Lay the binding right side down on the pocket piece that is facing up. In other words, right sides together. Stitch using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Using a 1/4 inch presser foot is ideal here. Or a clear presser foot which is my favorite. This foot allows me to see exactly where I am stitching.

Stitching the binding onto the potholder.


Fold binding over to backside of pocket piece.

Folding the binding onto the quilted fabric.

Pin liberally so the binding doesn’t move while sewing.

Pinning the binding onto the quilted fabric.

Stitch. I used my clear presser foot so I could see to stitch close to the edge of the binding. Remove pins as you sew. Do not sew over straight pins.

Removing pins as sewing the binding onto the potholder.
Hands holding the finished binding on the potholder.

Lay pocket piece on top of potholder back piece. Align the bottom edges to form the pocket.

Pin the sides and bottom edges together.

Round and cut all 4 corners to make it easier to bind. You can see how I did this on the baby burp cloth project. I use an old cd and rotary blade to round my corners.

With a basting stitch, sew the pocket piece onto the back piece.

Add a hanging loop.

Fold the 3 inch piece of ribbon in half into a flat loop, right sides up. Stitch onto the middle top of the back of the potholder. Sew back and forth a couple of time to secure the ribbon loop.

Sewing the loop onto the potholder.

Sew the binding all around the perimeter of the potholder. Use the instructions above to sew the binding. Sew slowly around the corners. These can be tricky. Use lots of pins to hold the binding in place.

To end the binding, I simply fold the raw edges under on one end. Then place it over the the other end that has already been stitched. Sew this down, completing the binding.

To make the ribbon loop stand up, flip the loop over to the top and stitch on the opposite side.

The hanging loop on the potholder.

That’s it. Finally, no more burned tops of hands when reaching into the oven. Plus you get to choose what fabrics you want to use.

Two pocket potholders with appliquéd pumpkins on them.

If you enjoyed how to sew a pocket potholder, here’s another free potholder tutorial without a pocket. Even easier.

Two pocket potholders and sewing binding collage.

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