Blue Jean Pocket Pot Holders Tutorial

Today was almost like a micro ~ vacation :)  We had Inventory at work,since I changed positions back in July,as soon as the inventory crew was done with my area,I got to come home for the rest of the day!  So at 7:46 am I was clocking out and heading for the door,just under the two hour mark!  (to bad that couldn't happen more often,not the inventory part tho)

When I arrived home it was straight to the sewing room for me :+)  For a Sewing Day!  First on the list were some new pot holders,the old ones were 7 years old!

Supply's Needed for Two sets of Pot Holders:

• two old pairs of blue (or any other color) jeans,or just the back pockets 
• Insul-Bright
• Fabric for backing
• scraps for hang tabs

• sewing basics ~ scissors,rotary cutter,thread,sewing machine,cutting mat

The first thing we need to do is decide what size to make the pot holders,this will somewhat depend on the size of your pockets.  I am making two different sizes,the dark set is from a pair of my jeans,the lighter set is from a pair of Mr. P's jeans.  Why?  My hands are on the small side,while Mr. P's are a lot bigger.  So  If I only used mine,his hands would not fit in the pocket.

My pocket squares are 7 1/2 & 8 1/2 inches.  So my squares of backing fabric and Insul Bright will need to be the same size,or just a bit larger,if you are using a large scrap pieces.

Since all I have are scraps of Insul Bright,I am using a zig zag stitch to join the pieces together.  If you have scraps you can do this too,or just cut your squares the size you need.

Here is one of my squares of Insul Bright all sewn together.

Take your tab scraps,mine are 3 x 4 inches

Fold them in half lengthwise,press.

Fold each half into the crease.

Now fold that in half again.

Now,edge stitch the open side,or both sides if you like.  Repeat the above steps for the rest of your hang tabs.  Set them aside for now.

Take your square of Insul Bright and place it shiny side up on your work surface.

Next,take your backing fabric and center it on top of the Insul Bright,right side up.

Place one of your jean pockets right side down on top of the backing fabric,the wrong side should be facing up.

Take to your sewing machine (you can pin if you like,before sewing) and sew around three sides.  Starting on the right side at the top and sewing all the way around to the left side top.

You can just see my stitching in the photo above.  See how I cut a bit too close at the top on the right side?  Make sure that you leave yourself enough room to keep the outside edge of the pressor foot up against the seam of the pocket.  Other wise it is difficult to sew!

If you used a large scrap for the backing and have excess fabric,trim it off at a 1/4 inch,clipping the corners,but not too close!

Turn right side out,so that they look like this.  Be sure to push out the bottom corners.

Now tuck in your open end at least a 1/4 inch.

At the center insert one of your tabs raw edges in,folded edge out.  I lined mine up with the center point  at the bottom of the pocket.  My tab is right behind the third pin in,from either side.

Now take to your machine and carefully edge stitch the opening closed.  Repeat with the rest of your pockets.

Now, go to the kitchen and replace those old pot holders with some new/up-cycled pot holders :)
Not only did you re-cycle something,you also did some scrap busting too !