Carolyn Vagts - Learn to Make Quilted Mug Rugs

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Templates

To download templates for easy printing, view the download instructions at the end of this book or click the Templates chapter in the Table of Contents.

Carolyn S. Vagts is a wife, mother, grandmother, quilt designer, author, quilt book editor and the editor of Quilters World magazine. She also has a successful quilt shop in Lake Orion, Mich.

Carolyn has made a name for herself in the quilting world with her award-winning techniques of mixing traditional piecing with fusible-art appliqu. She especially likes to teach beginning quilt classes, wanting every quilter to have a good first experience with quilting. She also lectures and teaches workshops to guilds.

Carolyns designs have been published regularly in several magazines, including Quilters World. She has had many designs published in quilting books and has authored three previous books: Learn to Quilt From Start to Finish, I Can Quilt and Learn to Quilt With Panels.

The creative process has been a notable part of her life. She studied drawing, pottery and sculpture in college where she received a liberal arts degree. She finally found her niche in quilting when she was asked to do some design work. That was over 15 years ago, and she has been designing quilts and working in the quilt industry ever since.

Mug rugs are sweet little projects that are perfect for customizing and personalizing to make cute gifts or to keep for yourself. You can make a statement with an event or seasonal theme. Mug rugs are coasters on steroids; theyre big enough for a snack and a drink of your choice, and theyre really fun to make.

We have arranged this book for optimal creativity. The first section shows several pieced and plain backgrounds to use as your mug rug base. In other words, these are canvases on which to place appliqus. Choose to leave the background top plain or move on to the next section to pick an appliqu motif that complements and fits your background choice. Do as you please and build as many combinations as you wish, putting your own creative spin on them. The number of combinations is endless.

These little projects are perfect for using scraps, fat eighths and fat quarters. Most of the mug rugs in this book range in size from 6" x 8" to 8" x 10", and the appliqus can easily be cut from small pieces of fabric. Theyll make quick work of your stash!

As an added treat, we have included instructions for making small, skinny table or shelf toppers and place mats. Both are just a hop, skip and a jump up in size from the mug rugs. Any of the appliqus provided can be used on the skinnies and place mats. And because they are a little bigger, you can do multiples of the appliqu you select to make a whole herd of sea horses or field of flowers.

So, if you have fat eighths, fat quarters and colorful scraps in your stash, try out these fun little projects that will shrink that stash to almost nothing.

Choice 8: Checkerboard Background

Place Mat With Triple Border

General Information

Making mug rugs requires the basic tools and supplies used in all quilting. Review the following list to make sure you have what you need:

Rotary cutter and mat

Scissors for paper and fabric

Nonslip quilting rulers

Water-soluble fabric marker

Sewing machine in good working order

Sewing-machine feet:

seaming foot (for piecing)

Walking or even-feed foot (for piecing or quilting)

Darning or free-motion foot (for free-motion quilting)

Sewing machine needles:
Microtec 10/70 (suggested)

Hand-sewing needles

Straight pins/safety pins

Seam ripper

Iron and ironing surface

Appliqu ironing mat

Variety of colorful threads to match fabrics

Light box (optional)

This is a great time to pull out that basket of treasured bits and pieces of your favorite fabrics and put them to use. Any of these mug rugs can be made with a fat quarter or less. Scrap fabric is a great source for these appliqus since the motifs are rather small and take very little fabric.

If you plan to use a raw-edge appliqu technique with a straight stitch, batik fabrics will work the best. Batiks have a denser thread count and the batiking process leaves a wax residue in the fabric that helps stop any fraying. If you are using a blanket or buttonhole stitch, any good-quality cotton will work.

When making mug rugs, place mats and runners, its a good idea to use a heat-resistant batting. Using heat-resistant batting will protect your furniture and can prevent injury.

Heat-resistant batting washes the same as regular batting and stitches about the same. There are several brands on the market. Be sure to read the manufacturers instructions before beginning since there are some differences between manufacturers.

Fusible web with a paper release works best for raw-edge appliqu. Using fusible web with paper release allows you to trace your motifs onto the paper side of the fusible web and trim with accuracy.

There are several brands on the market and each one is used a bit differently. Follow the specific manufacturers instructions for best results. My personal favorite is a product from Bosal Foam & Fiber, Splendid Web #345. Its easy to work with and pretty much foolproof.

Adding a stabilizer to the reverse side of the mug rug top before applying an appliqu is always a good idea. Stabilizers come in nonwoven, woven, wash away, cut away, tear away, stitch on and fusible to meet the needs of appliqu and embroidery.

We suggest a fusible woven stabilizer/interfacing which will prevent pulling and puckering during stitching and give a nice flat finish to your appliqu after stitching, especially when using a buttonhole or decorative stitch.

Again, there are several brands on the market and each one is used a bit differently. Follow the specific manufacturers instructions for application for best results.

When a motif, words or a free-motion quilt design will be used on a project, a safe and easy way to guarantee the position is to mark or trace the motif onto the project before you start to stitch.