Holiday idea: Make an ornament that can be used as an oven mitt.

Update: These are snug. I wish I would have made them bigger. The tapering of the diamond makes the pocket smaller than anticipated. If you make this shape, make them bigger than I made mine. 

Here are my ornaments that can be used as microwave finger mitts. The left one is a front view. The right one is the back view. The size of these are 9in X 4in, not including the loop. You can make these oven mitts any size, including large enough for a regular oven. 

I started with a paper piecing pattern from a larger project. That is why the numbers are all mixed up. These were leftovers that I copied to make several of the microwave oven mitts. 

I cut out my pieces when doing paper piecing so I don't waste a lot of fabric. I do make my pieces large enough that the seam allowance is slightly more than a quarter inch so that I don't have to worry about getting it exactly centered. 

I used leftover fabric one of my last years projects. You can also use a bigger, whole pieces for the front, and skip the piecing step. The fabric can be the design. You can make these any shape, circles, squares, or any abstract shape you find appealing. 

The top is an image of the back. The bottom is an image of the front. I rip away the paper before layering.  

Here are the pieces ready for assembly. The top row is the front of the pot holder. The middle row goes on the back to cover the insulation layers. The bottom row creates the pockets for fingers.  The bias strip covers the raw edges. 

With the pocket pieces, I cute a full size triangle and then folded it in half for more heft. I did not include a photo of the Insul-Bright and the cotton batting. Cut one of each to use as insulation in the mitts. 

The order of my layers are: 1) Top piece, right side facing down. 2) Insul-Bright layer. 3) Cotton batting layer. 3) The back piece, right side facing up. 4) The pockets. 

Pin to hold layers in place. I use glue basting, but I use a towel to put over the pieces when ironing to set the glue. I have had the Insul-Bright melt onto the iron and create a mess. Pieces can peek out a tiny bit. The towel prevents any visible parts from melting. 

I don't worry about the stiffness of the glue because I wash all my projects before gifting those to others or before using them myself. 

Here is an image of the back. Notice I left a 1 1/2 inch space between the two pockets to allow for insertion of fingers and more mobility. If you do not create a space, it is harder to get fingers into the mitt and it can feel awkward to use. 

I put bias trim on the top of the pockets to give it more heft. Then I used the bias to cover all the raw edges. If you notice the bias strip only has one side pressed over. That is because I sew the bias with the raw edge matching the oven mitt's raw edge. Then I fold it over to cover the raw edges and hand sew the folded edge to the front side using a ladder stitch. You can machine sew both sides if you wish to. I have trouble making each sewing line look parallel to the other or to sew directly over the initial thread line.  

I use the binding to form a loop at the top to place on the Christmas Tree or to hang in the kitchen. To create the loop, I start sewing the bias strip at the top of the mitt, leaving plenty of extra fabric, about two or three inches, and finish at the top. Then I sew the two ends together, fold the sides over to hide the raw edges, and sew into place.

This is the finished oven mitt. I am using these as stocking stuffers and fun little gifts. I had been worried that these would be too large to use as ornaments, but I have seen some rather large ornaments on trees. As stated previously, people can use these as ornaments or hang in their kitchen, or both.