1. Gather your materials.To create a hot pad, you’ll need a design to embroider, fabric for both the pad’s top and bottom, Insul-Bright or a similar product, and double-fold bias tape or fabric for binding.

2. Cut your fabric to the appropriate size for the project. Compensate for margins for the binding. Adding more back fabric will allow you to use a portion of that fabric as binding for the front. This means there are no worries about making sure the straight stitch captures the binding on the back and the front.

3. Embroider your design on the top piece of fabric.

4. Layer the top piece of fabric and the embroidered piece with Insul-Bright. Then, quilt those layers together. The quilting can be a simple design spaced out over the fabric’s surface. Once this is done, add the bottom piece of fabric and do a few more quilting stitches to hold the hot pad layers together. Using this method will leave less stitching showing in the middle of the hot pad on the bottom.

5. Once the layers are all stitched, use the excess bottom fabric to bind the layers together. Use straight stitching to secure the layers and back stitching around the corners to add extra stability. This project can be done without a hoop. If you do choose to hoop it, you’ll need to use bias tape.