Pot Holders

Pot holders, which have probably existed in the United States since the late eighteenth century, both insulate and decorate. In the 1840s needlepoint holders were used for teapots in the parlor. Most surviving nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century examples are of quilted scrap cloth, such as calico and chintz. Some 1880s Pennsylvania holders look like setting hens whose wings fold around an egg cooker’s or tea kettle’s handle. By the 1940s booklets produced by yarn companies gave instructions for crocheting colorful pot holders shaped like animals, faces, and houses. Also in the 1940s weaving kits with pronged frames and bright loops of knitted cotton let children make pot holders. The 1950s brought insulated oven mitts.