DIY Cactus Oven Mitts

Cactus oven mitts! You guys! I, Kara, am so excited to share these DIY cactus oven mitts with you all today. They are the perfect dose of cute to add to your kitchen! Just imagine pulling your cookies out of the oven with these cute cacti on your hands! This was my first time making oven mitts, and they came together relatively quickly despite a few sewing mistakes at the beginning. Lucky for you, I am going to share what I did, so you don’t have to worry about making any mistakes and can whip out a pair of DIY cactus oven mitts in no time!Supplies:
–1/4 yard of heat-resistant insulated batting
-4 pieces of 8″ x 10″ green wool felt for the saguaro cactus
-2 pieces of 8″ x 10″ green wool felt for the San Pedro shaped cactus
-1 piece of 8″ x 10″ colored wool felt for each cactus “pot”
-1/8 yard of fusible thermolam interfacing
-scissors, sewing machine, thread, and pinsStep One: We will begin with the tutorial for the saguaro cactus oven mitt. I used one of my existing oven mitts to create the pattern for this shape. If you don’t have an oven mitt with this shape to use as a template, place your hand on one square of felt and trace around your hand with a 1-2″ buffer to create this shape. You will need to cut out 4 green wool felt pieces and two insulated batting pieces in this shape.

Step Two: Cut out triangles from the fusible thermolam and iron them glue side down onto one piece of the green felt to create the cactus spines.Step Three: Layer one green piece of felt, one insulated batting piece, and another green felt piece onto each other, pin along the bottom, and then stitch together just along the bottom edge.Step Four: Now you will want to cut out two 4″ colored strips of wool felt and fold them around the bottom of the cactus pieces you just stitched.Step Five: Stitch along the raw edge to secure the colored felt to the green cactus felt. Repeat on the other side with the other cactus pieces.Step Six: Place the two sets of cactus pieces right sides together (the part with the cactus spines) and stitch from the bottom side all the way around the cactus leaving the bottom open. Clip any extra fabric and turn right side out.Step Seven: For the second cactus oven mitt, begin by cutting out the following: 1 piece of 8″ x 4″ wide long insulated batting that is curved on one end and flat on the other, two pieces of 6″ long x 4″ wide colored felt for the “pot”, two pieces of 5″ long x 4″ wide pieces of green wool felt with a curved top and straight bottom, and finally one piece of 6″ long x 4″ wide green felt with curves on each end.Step Eight: Stitch one piece of the colored felt to the straight ends of the two 5″ long green pieces to create a piece that looks like the above photo. Then fold in half and cut into two equal pieces (you will be cutting the pink down the middle). These are the exterior pieces of your oven mitt.

Step Nine: Take the remaining two pieces (one green with double curves and one colored rectangle) and fold them in half. Place them folded side toward each other on the right side (the side that will face out) of one of the exterior oven mitt pieces.

Step Ten: Place the other exterior piece right side down onto this to create a sandwich, and then lastly add the piece of insulated batting on top.Step Eleven: Stitch along all sides leaving the bottom open so that you can turn the oven mitt right side out.Step Twelve: Turn the oven mitt right side out and stitch the opening closed. At this point you can iron on fusible thermolam strips and glue on a felt flower to make the cactus more realistic looking.As you can see, this oven mitt has two pockets in the back for your fingers and thumbs.Hopefully you have made it this far! This was definitely a long tutorial, but I promise once you get started, it should all start to make sense and come together fairly quickly. And the serious cute factor should convince you that these are totally worth the work! Don’t you think so? xo. Kara

Credits // Author and Photography: Kara Whitten. Photos edited with the NEW A Beautiful Mess Presets for Lightroom.