Introduction: How to Sew Together a "HotHolder"

About: Retired, doing art work now. Great. Have the time and the money to spend doing what I want to do.
I wanted to have an "easier-to-handle" pot holder when cooking with cast iron.  I thought the pan should have it's own "mitten" and I wouldn't have to look for a pot holder all the time. Hence this instructable.

Step 1: Make Templates/Patterns From Cardboard and Cloth

Referring to the attached photos, cut cardboard and cloth as shown. The cardboard consists of two "body" pieces, and spacer pieces as shown.  The cloth is simply cut  a little smaller as it will be stretched over the cardboard body.  This material is a "spandex", or elastic- like cloth that stretches quite a bit.

Step 2: Cardboard Is Glued and Sewn Together

After gluing the cardboard, it is sewn as well. I found that the glue alone is not strong enough to contain the pan handle, so added the stitching after finding that out.  Safety is a concern, of course, and the whole idea is to prevent any burns while cooking.

Step 3: Sew the Cloth Cover

Self explanatory. I am not a sewing person, so I just did the best I could and used hand stitching to accomplish the task. I could see where a machine could make very short work of this project, indeed.

Step 4: Slip Sewn Cover Over Cardboard Handle

The cloth is then stretched over the body, and the project is complete.

Step 5: Slip on "Hotholder"


The hotholder should slip on easily, but also be very snug. You want as little movement between it and the pan handle as possible.

Step 6: Have a Cool Hand While Cooking!

This is a 10 inch skillet and is quite heavy. The "hotholder" works fine, is left on all the time, and so far has been a success. It would be an easy matter to make several of these to have on hand for multiple utensils.