Sunday 3 March 2013

Coast to Coaster Challenge



I am reading this book called French kids eat everything, illustrated by fabric designer Sara Jane Wright, from the minute I read the title it had me interested and I ended up getting it straight away!                                                                                                                              In the book, Karen mentions how respectful the French are of food, and that dressing your table appropriately is just part of it and it adds to the overall effect of enjoying your meal.                                                                                                    I could not agree more by adding some freshly picked flowers to the table for dinner it just makes it feel more enjoyable (even though you will more often than not find me scraping the mornings (or potentially previous mornings weetabix off the table during dinner!) 

This month we are focusing on Table Decor, trying in simple (and sometimes more extravagant  ways to make your table look pretty! We have a fabulous workshops focusing on just this, including a set of 3 paper crafting workshops to create this!


If you are into paper crafting (or have a wedding coming up) then this is the perfect class for you!

Our challenge for March is coasters, a while back I did this tutorial over on our old blog, and I thought we would revive it because it not only makes a great gift but also uses those scraps up!

So if you are in Christchurch once again, please bring in your coasters! We are choosing our winner of our hoop challenge tomorrow! If you are not in Christchurch, please post a picture of them to the Make Cafe's facebook page

So here is a tutorial to get you started, but feel free to enter any kind of coaster, knitted, crocheted, paper crafted, mosaics! The winner receives the next issue of The Simple Life Magazine!

Scrummy Yummy Designer Coasters


Love Fat Quarters?? Do you find yourself collecting them? I certainly do! You can have these done easily in under an hour. To begin, this is the list of materials you will need (not all are essential but they are a great help for sewing quickly!)

You can substitute the ruler & rotary blade with a cut out pattern and sewing scissors. The fabrics above are just coordinating scraps I had left.
Using your ruler & blade cut out 4 equal size squares from each of the four fabrics. My sizes were 3 x3 inches (5cm x 5cm). If you are using a ruler for the first time, make sure your fabric is lined up straight down the left hand side then move your ruler to your chosen measurement with excess fabric on the left and cut. Turn the cut fabric strip around and trim the off the excess


If you are making a set of 4 coasters you will need 16 little bitty bits of fun to piece together & play around with until you have your desired Feng Shui
Once you have decided on your layout, fold two pieces right side to right side (pin) and sew together.

Do that for all 16 pieces. Iron out your seams (these are the little flaps that are left once you have finished sewing and your article looks far prettier when they have been ironed flat, but not an essential if you are in a hurry!)
Place two sets together, right side to right side, and sew once more



And now you should have something like this

To make things simpler, measure out your square now and cut a backing piece & a piece of lining to go in between I used a medium weight lining and my square measured 5.25 inches (13.5cm)

Place the patterned piece face up, the lining on top (face down if necessary) and the backing on top of that

Now pin and sew turning your corners as you go around (by leaving your needle down and lifting your presser foot up), you may find it easier to have your lining on top or the other way around, just try it and see which works best. Leave a small opening about 4cm wide.


Turn it inside out and push the corners out as much as you can using a rounded tip ( I have an embellishing tool which works perfectly!) And now you will have this.


Now take your co-ordinating thread and sew as close as you can to the edge (Tucking in the opening) and turning your corners as mentioned above.
Then once you have completed a full squares move your presser foot so that the right hand side is lined up against your previously sewed line and sew around once more. Repeat that for the third time. You can keep on going around, but I quite like the look of 3 lines and it get's quite tricky near the middle!

Trim off all those little bits of thread and ta daa! You have your amazing set of designer coasters!
Time for a cuppa!




1 comment:

  1. I would love to make placemats like this, guess it would be similar, just bigger?

    ReplyDelete