Rooster Potholders

I made some potholder plans a few weeks ago, and finally completed the first set.

These are the rooster potholders.

The backing had a diamond-grid, so in order to secure it to the green striped fabric, I made a row of horizontal stitching through the long end of the diamonds.

As you can see, there's a pocket on the front to put your hand in.  I think potholders work better this way, making them more like a mitt.

As far as construction goes, I made the back section first (the green striped fabric).  Then I made the pocket, which was two pieces of fabric on either side of regular batting.  Lastly, I lined up the bottom and sides of both pieces and used a normal binding technique like I would do on a quilt.

The only thing I would do differently would be to use a wider piece of binding.  I used 2", but that silver stuff is VERY thick and I really had to tug on the binding to get it to cover the raw edge.

Since the potholders are going to our quilt guild to raise money, I made myself this set to keep at home.  I use them during mealtime to put under hot/cold dishes and mugs.  

I used Insul-Bright batting.  I don't know how to use it very well, though.  They say to make sure the side with the most metal is the side that goes toward your hot or cold object.  But I have trouble telling which side has the most metal - one side seems to have approximately .007% more metal than the other, in my opinion.

Say cheese!  Just don't say "chicken dinner."