Quilting in the Rain

This tutorial will make you four coasters and one coaster cozy. I made these for a friend that just moved into a new house – it makes a great housewarming gift 🙂

Materials:

• Scrap fabrics
• Scrap batting
• Steam-a-seam

Step 1 – From your scrap fabrics, cut 12 2”x5” rectangles. As shown below, put them in four coordinating piles with three rectangles each. These will be your coaster patchwork tops.

Step 2 – From your scrap fabrics, cut four 5” squares for the coaster backing. From your scrap batting, cut four 5” squares.

Step 3 – Take a pile of three rectangles (from step 1) and piece them together: With right sides facing together, sew a ¼” seam along the length. The back will look like the first picture below. Press flat with an iron.

Step 4 – Take the patchwork top, backing and batting and layer them in that order. The right sides of the patchwork top and backing should be facing each other. Make sure everything is aligned, and then pin to keep in place.

Step 5 – Sew a ¼” seam along the perimeter of the coaster but leave a 2” opening for turning inside out. Start and end your stitch with a back-stitch. Using scissors, trim the excess fabric from the corners.

Step 6 – Through the 2” opening, turn inside out so that the batting is sandwiched in between the patchwork top and backing fabric. To seal the opening, fold the opening inward ¼”, press with an iron, and then apply a thin strip of steam-a-seam to glue it closed.

Step 7 – To make the coaster cozy, sew enough fabric scraps together so that you can cut two 6.5” squares. From your scrap batting, cut one 6.5” square. Follow Steps 4 through 6 (above), but using these 6.5” squares.

Step 8 – As shown below, pinch each corner so that a 1” wall forms on each side. Pin the corners to keep them pinched. (Tip: put a coaster in the center before pinching the corners of the coaster cozy to help give you even walls)

Step 9 – Use embroidery floss and a needle to tie all 4 corners closed.

You’re done!

The tutorial below is for a 25.5” x 13” table runner (good for a coffee table) which requires 18 5” fabric squares. Simply double the number of materials depending on how long you want the runner to be (e.g. for a 51”x13” runner you will need 36 5” squares). I made this Halloween theme table runner using leftover fabric from the fabric ornament tutorial – i just love using every last bit!

Materials:

• Charm pack (a charm pack is a bundle of pre-cut 5″ squares)
• Backing fabric (for a 25.5″x13″ runner, get 29″x16″ of backing)
• Batting
• Coordinating thread

Step 1 – Pair your 5” squares into 9 groups of 2 squares each. When choosing pairs, pick colors/patterns that complement each other. Pair the squares so that the right sides are facing each other.

Step 2 – As shown below, cut a diagonal line to form 2 half square triangles.

Step 3 – For both half square triangles, sew a ¼” seam along the diagonal line that you cut in the previous step.

Step 4 – After sewing the ¼” seam, press open with an iron. This will create 2 squares. As shown in the 2nd picture below, trim the excess fabric tags.

Step 5 – Repeat the above for all the squares you paired in step 1. Then arrange the squares in 6 rows of 3 squares each. I arranged mine as follows.

Step 6 – Sew the 3 squares in each row together: with right sides facing together, sew a ¼” seam. Press open with an iron.

Step 7 – Then, sew all 6 rows together: with right sides facing together (pin to keep in place), sew a ¼” seam. And then press open with an iron. Continue until you have all rows sewn together.

Step 8 – Now layer your quilt top, batting and backing (in that order) to create a quilt sandwich. Layer it so you can see the right sides of the quilt top and backing fabric (i.e. wrong sides should be facing the batting). Pin to keep the quilt sandwich in place. Then using your sewing machine, quilt the runner however you like. I simply stitched diagonal lines, using the stitch-in-the-ditch method.

Finish the quilt via the Quick Quilt Binding Tutorial, which uses the extra backing fabric. : )