Leaf Hot Pad

I'm still sick but definitely getting better. But because of that, this post actually probably should've been done last week. David, his mom, and I made a leaf shaped hot pad that is big enough to fit a 9 x 13 pan last weekend (like, the one before this most recent one). Up until this point, if we used our bigger pans, we always had to use multiple hot pads and we don't have that many to begin with. I thought a leaf one would be cute for fall but I choose all green fabrics instead of all fall fabrics so I still could use it for any season.

It was a pattern that David's mom came up with. It was a pretty simple project but a lot of work. David really had to help me with this one because it was just wearing me out too much. You do have to pay attention to how many strips you do before you do another vein (the brown ones) because you want those numbers to be the same. We also ended up making half of it upside down on the pattern so the strips were supposed to make a V and mine ended up as stripes but I think it's cute anyway.

The stem is graduated so the top (before sewing) is an inch wide and the bottom (where it sticks out of the leaf) is an inch and 3/4. We did have to make some slits before sewing it closed to make the stem sit right otherwise it's kind of stubby and reminds me of a dog's tail.

For the inside, we used special hot pad batting (it has little metal pieces in and crinkles when you touch it) so I'm not sure if it would be dryer safe but you can use regular batting or even felt too.

In my pictures, it's not top stitched yet because I'm getting my walking foot for my machine this week and we didn't quite finish it at David's mom's house.

The second picture is the back and that's just a cool fabric I happened to have on hand. Now I get to make another one because someone at David's work asked that I make him one! I'm pretty excited about it.