Patchwork Mug Rug-TUTORIAL

I thought I'd bring another one of the tutorials I did for Delish magazine home again today.  This mug rug would be the perfect gift to make for someone this Christmas, especially nice because you could even use up some scraps!  Plus, you could certainly get a few done in under an hour...yay for gifts done in a flash!

Patchwork Mug Rug

(10) 5 x 5 inch fabric squares from a charm pack or scraps of the same size

(1) 10 x10  inch piece of cotton batting or felt

1 package of coordinating extra wide double fold bias tape

coordinating thread

sewing machine

rotary cutter and mat

straight needles

iron and ironing board

Gather your ten pieces of coordinating charm squares or scraps and decide how you would like to have them situated on both the front and the back of the mug rug.  The front will consist of two 5 x 5 inch pieces of fabric and five 2.5 x 5 inch pieces.  The back will consist of four 5 x 5 inch pieces only.  For this mug rug I used a charm pack from the beautiful Bliss by Bonnie and Camille..love this line!  If you remember, I used this line in Eloise's first birthday party earlier this year too :-)

Take two 5 x 5 squares that will be on the front right side of the mug rug and sew them right sides together at one end using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  

On the wrong side, press the seam apart like the picture above.

Next cut four of the charm squares in half into 2.5 x 5 inch pieces.  You will only need to choose five of these pieces for the front side of the mug rug.  

Sew two of these pieces of fabric, wrong sides together, along the longer 5 inch side using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Continue to do this until all pieces of fabric are joined together.

With the wrong side up, press each seam open.

Next take the strip of fabric you just finished and the first two squares you joined together earlier and sew them together with right sides facing along one of the longer sides only.  

Now take the remaining four pieces of 5 x 5 inch charm squares and sew them all together like we did earlier, making sure to use a 1/4 seam allowance and pressing the seams open when done.  

You should have both front and back pieces finished now!

Next take the piece of cotton batting or felt and sandwich it between the front and back pieces, making sure both pieces have their right sides facing out.

Pin around the outside edges to keep the batting from moving while sewing the next step.

Time to quilt the mug rug!  Starting down the center of the mug rug, sew a straight line down from one edge to the opposite side.  Then move your fabric over about 1/2 inch from your center line and sew another straight line.  Continue sewing straight lines until you have quilted the whole mug rug.  

Using your rotary cutter clean up the edges of the mug rug by cutting it down to a 9 x 9 inch square.

Take your bias tape and sew it around the mug rug making sure to catch all the raw edges while you sew.  

If you need some help with how to sew with bias tape, check out my tutorial here!

All done!  And perfect for gifting to someone special this holiday season :-)

Happy sewing my friends!

XOXO,