I had a made up some hot pad inserts from a wool sweater, cotton batting and cotton. I have finally given the two small ones cute cotton covers. I tied the corduroy one - love the pattern of red and orange floral shapes and a classic white and black design for the other one which I machine stitched with diagonal lines. They are about 6" square and suitable to be used a trivets for a tea pot, a small pie or a warm bowl of soup. They would be great coasters for a large mug as well. Therese