Microwaveable Fabric Bowl Tutorial

Now you may be wondering what is a Microwaveable fabric bowl….well it’s a hot pad that allows you to take a hot bowl right out of the microwave without burning your hands!  If you have teenagers like I do you will agree this idea is great!

 I was first introduced to these bowls at a guild meeting when Marg showed us a set she made with her winter quilting group in Arizona.  They had discovered a tutorial on a quilting forum for these bowls and I asked Marg to showed me how to make them so I can teach them at our guild meeting this month.  She made a few improvement to the original tutorial so I thought I would share the new and improved version with you. So I did not design these bowls and if you know who did I would love to give them credit as it is a genius idea! The quilter that did the first tutorial said she was not the original designer.

The most important thing you have to remember about this project is you must use 100% cotton for all your materials…including thread as this is going into the microwave!  Also do not use fabrics with metallic prints or sparks will fly!

The set you see above is made from 8”, 10” and 12” squares.   For each bowl you need two squares of fabric and two squares of batting all cut to the same size.  I like to use the same two coordinating fabrics for each bowl in a set.

Here is what you need to make one bowl.

Step One – On the squares of batting mark a center horizontal and vertical line. 
Step Two - Mark a small line on all four center lines measuring from the outside edge.  For the 8” square measure 2” from the outer edge, for a 10” square measure in 2 1/2” and for the 12” square measure in 3”.


Step Three – Layer a square of batting on the wrong side of the fabric square.  Pin on the center lines as show. You will have two of these for one bowl.


Step Four -  Fold the square in half on one of the lines and stitch a dart from the small line to the outer edge.  For the 8” square make your dart 1/2” wide on the outer edge, for the 10” square make it 3/4”  and for the 12” square make the dart 1” wide at the outer edge.

Do this on all four sides.

The fabric side of the bowl will look like this.  You will have two of these in different colors but the same size.

Step Five – Clip extra batting from the darts, this will eliminate some bulk.

Step Six – Take these two fabric squares with batting now attached and layer them right sides together.   Stitch the two layers together leaving a 3” opening.

The bowl will now look like this.

When you piece these two layers together make sure your darts are alternating direction to eliminate bulk.

Also when you are stitching around the corners do not pivot sharply but take an extra stitch or two on the angle to round the corner.


Step Seven – Trim extra batting around the outer seam allowance on both sides and clip the extra fabric in the corners on an angle.


Step Eight – Now you are ready to turn the bowl right side out.  Once right side out topstitch the outer edge and this will close the opening.  You can then quilt a design in the center of the bowl to hold the layers together and create a firmer bottom to the bowl.

You are now ready to use your bowl in your microwave!  You can also use this to hold a cold ice cream bowl too!  :)

Here is a complete set of three bowls that nestle nicely together.

I used Quilter’s Dream Deluxe Cotton batting which are quite thick but you can use a thinner 100% cotton batting as each bowl has two layers of batting inside.

Hope your enjoyed this tutorial!

Kathy