Quilted Coasters for Beginners

Pin It

Oh no! Not another quilted coaster tutorial *grin*

This is a technique I saw for quilted ATCs - since they're just a little smaller than a coaster, I thought the method would translate well. I made it very beginner oriented (like me). I hope you like it.

Fat Quarter Shop (and probably your local quilt shop) sells Charm Packs with are neat 5x5 pinked squares, usually comprised of a whole line of fabric.  Here's the one I got:

I planned to make Yo-Yos with it... and then never did. The charms remind me an awful lot of coasters, so I thought I'd sew a few up in the off chance they worked.

What you need per coaster:

2 5x5 pieces of fabric
1 4.5x4.5 (ish) piece of fusible fleece (or batting, then skip the fusing bit)
sewing machine
iron

Something no one tells you, fusible stuff is different on each side. Experienced sewists never think to mention to us newbies that you need to iron the glue side to the fabric. Here's a visual:

See those little dots? That's the adhesive side. In this case you put the glue side against the wrong side of your fabric.

Flip:

Iron:

Sandwich right sides of fabric together.

Pin (my fabric stuck together so I pinned minimally)

Sew leaving a two inch opening. Remember to backstitch at the start and finish points.

See the open area:

Clip the corners being careful not to cut through the sewing. You do this to reduce the bulk. A corner is a teeny thing and seams can be lumpy.

Turn it right-side out. Use something to poke the corners out; roll them through your thumb and forefinger if they're being stubborn. Tip: careful with sharp objects for turning corners... it seldom goes well.

It'll look like this:

Iron flat and square. Be sure to turn in un-sewn  open section.

Topstitch the opening closed and around the coaster.

When done it should look like this:

Quilt the coaster. You can do this however you want. I specifically picked this fabric as it had built in quilting lines. How easy is that? I just sewed along each white line.

Turn over and trim off all the stray threads.

Now bask in your awesomeness :-)

Thanks so much for joining me on my learning to sew journey. I'm tickled about these and can't wait to make more.

Warmly,

Nicole

P.S. This project is part of my April Stash-Busting. It feels so good to be using the supplies I bought months ago with the best intentions.

P.S.S. I'm linking to: