Hi Skip to my Lou fans and friends, I’m Hilani (pronounced Hill-Lonnie), from Handmade by Hilani.  I’m a lover of many things, one being sewing.  My side hobby, turn small business, has resulted in so much extra joy that I can’t help but get excited when I can share my passion for sewing with others.  As the holidays wind down and we begin to regroup maybe you’ve found yourself hoping to start a new hobby in 2012.  If so, this is a great beginner project and runs about $5.00 – $7.00.  Below is my step-by-step Tutorial for making Fabric Coasters.  These make great house warming, hostess and pretty much anything gifts.  Get creative and use favorite sports themes or make one special to gift Mom or Dad for their desk. 
Thanks Cindy and Staff for having me and Happy Sewing! ~ Hilani


What you’ll need:
Fat Quarter Fabric (18”x18”) or 1/2 yard of fabric
Stiff Interfacing Medium to heavy weight (20” x 5”)
Matching Thread
Cutter/Ruler/Pins/Iron
#14 Sewing Needle

Specifics:
Project time Start to Finish:
           Beginner:  1.5+ hours
           Intermediate: 1 hour
           Advance:  45-50 minutes
Ideal for nap time. :0)


Above is a picture of all the materials you’ll need to complete this project. If you’re a beginner, you’ll probably want to break this into two 1 hour time slots to allow for enough time to complete a job-well-done finished product.
Step 1: Cut {8}  5” x 5” squares from your Fabric Material
Step 2: Cut {4} 5” x 5” squares from Medium to Heavy weight interfacing

Step 3: Pin 2 Fabric squares right side together, with 1 interface square underneath. Do this to all cut fabric making for 4 pined coasters.
Step 4: Draw your sewing line with a pencil on the pinned side of each square.  Use your clear ruler to mark 1/2 inch lines from edge to edge, all the way around like above (left photo). I find a pencil makes the best markings for me. You should have straight lines all the way around (bottom photo). These lines make the finished product straight.
Step 5: Set tension @ 6 or 7, Length Stitch @ 2 and begin to sew. Place needle on your line and follow your markings as best as possible.  **Remember you’ll need to leave a 3 inch gap from your start stitch to your end stitch. This gap will give you the space you’ll need
to turn the coaster ‘right-side’ out.

Step 6:  Bottom picture, cutting of excess fabric and diagonal corners. Keep extra fabric at opening long, do not cut.
Step 7: Iron wrong side of fabric on cotton setting so to ‘loosen’ the fabric for ease of manipulating the fabric while turning right side out.
Step 8:  Turn excess fabric from opening, inwards, and pin shut (bottom photo).
Step 9: Return to the machine. Change Length Stitch to 3, keep Tension @ 6-7.  Depending on what thread color you chose, find a spot on your material that best matches your thread color; start your stitch there.  This will make your starting point less noticeable.  Now give your coaster a finishing seam.  First seam line, 1/4 of an inch from edge of material. Second seam line, 1/2 an inch from edge.  If you follow your universal foot edge well, and your cut lines are good, you should be able to sew straight finishing lines.  Having your initial sew line straight, makes the world of difference too with a finished product.   Happy Sewing. 🙂

 


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Comments

  1. Hi, this looks like a really fun project! I have a question, though. When do you put the weight in? Do you put it in at all?

  2. Hi, thanks for the feature of my Coaster Tutorial and thanks to everyone for your kind words. 🙂 Happy New Year and Happy Sewing! {Hilani}

  3. Beautiful coasters!!! But I especially love the very detailed, straightforward directions! What a great job you’ve done Hilani! Thanks so much for sharing.
    Lynn

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