I love homemade gifts and I really love quilting so when I can combine the two, I’m one happy camper! I was brainstorming on what would make a great quilted gift and the idea for a quilted mug rug or coaster hit me.
In all honesty, I had never made one before, or watched tutorial, or even read a blog on how to make them. I just dove in and created my own. It was simple and really fun to make.
The great thing about making something like this is that you can personalize it for the recipient. If you know their home decor style, you can choose fabrics to match it perfectly.
I made two of them and they both had a vintage/farm theme because that’s totally my jam. One of them is a little smaller than the other so you can play with the size to fit the need. I need one a little bigger because I drink my coffee out of a huge cup!
DIY Quilted Mug Rug
This project is wonderful because it’s quick and easy. Depending on your sewing skills, this can be made in 1-3 hours.
It’s great for a last minute gift when you don’t have time to shop, this is a project that you can throw together out of your scrap bin. That’s what I did. It’s the perfect way to use up scraps that have been laying around waiting for just the right project.
Supplies:
Fabric: You’ll need coordinating top fabrics, backing, and binding.
Insulated batting: This is heat resistant to protect the surface your mug rug is sitting on. (You can get some here)
Thread: I used all white thread for this project but you may want to match with your fabrics for quilting. (You can get some here)
Cutting and measuring supplies: At the very least, you’ll want sewing scissors and a measuring tape. I prefer to use a rotary cutter, rotary mat, and quilting rulers.
Seam ripper: Hopefully you won’t need this item but if you’re like me, it’ll become your sewing bestie! (You can get one here)
Pins: Yes, pins are a great idea….. I’m not always great about using them but you really do end up with a better finished project when you do.
Iron and starch: You’ll definitely need an iron (This is the one I have) to keep your fabric nice and de-wrinkled as well as to press your seams. Now, I have a confession to make… In all my years of sewing (nearly 15 to be exact), I’ve never used starch until now. My friend had me try it and I just don’t think I will be quilting without it again if I can help it. (You can get some here)
Sewing machine: This seems like a no brainer but I mean you can hand sew these if you’d like but I’ll be sticking with a machine. 😉 (This is a good starter machine)
Instructions:
Now that we have our supplies together, it’s time to start sewing! There are a couple of things I’d like to address first…. The top can be any design you want.
For this tutorial, I chose a simple 4 patch using 2 1/2″ squares. The finished mug rug is 4 1/2″ square. You can make a 9 patch, a pinwheel, a half square triangle, etc…. You can even just use one solid 4 1/2″ square of fabric to make it super fast and simple.
That’s the beauty, be creative and make it what you want it to be!
Step 1: First thing you want to do is decide on your top design and cut your fabric accordingly. I chose the 4 patch so I cut my top fabric out as 4- 2 1/2″ squares of coordinating fabrics. I also starch and press my fabric before I cut it out.
Step 2: Sew together your mug rug top using 1/4″ seams. I used a regular sewing machine foot here but I suggest using a walking foot if you have one for your machine.
As you sew each piece together, press your seams open instead of to one side. With a small project this works best plus you want it to be as flat as possible when finished so that mugs can sit on it without tipping.
Now, trim up your top to be a perfect 4 1/2″ square. I like to use a slotted ruler to get my squares perfect. (You can get one here)
Step 3: Now that your top is finished, you’ll cut out your batting and backing. You always want to leave some over hang so that you can quilt it. I cut my insulated batting and batting to a 5 1/2″ square so I would have 1/2″ over hang all the way around.
You can baste your quilt top in place, use spray baste, or pin it if you’d like. Since this is a small project, I wasn’t too worried about it wiggling around so I didn’t baste at all and it did just fine.
Step 4: It’s time to quilt this baby! I chose to do simple straight line quilting 1/4″ away from each seam. It gives this a nice finished look and will hold the fabric layers together well. I really love the way it turned out. Once you’re all done with the quilting, just trim the backing and batting to the edge of the top.
Step 5: Last but not least, we need to bind our cute little mug rug. I chose to cut my binding at 2″ wide and about 22″ long. I wanted to be sure to have plenty to go all the way around.
If you don’t know how to bind a quilt, I suggest you watch this tutorial video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. This is my go to video every time I bind just to brush up on my memory.
The only thing I did differently was how I joined my ends to finish it. This project is too small to join the binding at an angle so i just did a straight seam.
I pinched my ends up together and marked them right where they met and folded up then trimmed the excess off leaving 1/4″ from my marks. Then I opened up the fabric and pinned them right sides together. I show you step by step in the photos above.
I stitched the seam at my marks and pressed the seam open. This made the binding fit perfectly to the mug rig.
Now, I flipped the binding over to the front side of the mug rug and used my binding clips (pins also work fine) to hold it in place. I carefully make sure each corner is mitered and looks nice.
Once I have my binding clipped into place, I edge stitch the binding down making sure that I overlap the starting stitches by about 1/2″ when I come back around to end it.
You did it!
There you go! You’ve made an adorable DIY mug rug! The perfect gift for friends and family. You’ll probably want to make some for yourself as well.
If you enjoy simple projects, check out my rag quilt and quilt as you go table runner tutorials!
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