Blooming Scraps Coasters Tutorial
So, you’ve got (or about to have) extra foundation paper templates from your Blooming Scraps quilt project, and you’re not quite sure what to do with them… Well, this blog post is made for you. With those extra templates, they can be used to create a coaster to go with your Blooming Scraps quilt project.
The following blog post will walk you through how to create Blooming Scraps coasters and a favourite little hack of mine when it comes to quilting up multiple small quilt sandwiches at a time.
If you haven’t got yourself a copy of the Blooming Scraps pattern yet, you can download it here.What You'll Need
- Pieced Blooming Scraps quilt blocks (in this tutorial I have used 4 quilt blocks)
- Quilt batting - this is a fantastic opportunity to use any leftover quilt batting from previous projects.
- Backing fabric
- Prepared binding - each coaster requires at least 26in of binding (in length).
- Coordinating 50wt cotton thread for quilting and binding
- Basting spray or safety pins for basting
- Cutting mat
- Rotary cutter
- Quilting ruler
- Fabric scissors
- Fabric pen or pencil
- Heramarker
Directions
Step 1: Press each quilt block and backing fabric. Layer the backing, batting, and quilt block(s). Baste as desired.
One of my favourite tricks when it comes to making multiple coasters is, creating one quilt sandwich for all the coasters instead of one quilt sandwich for each coaster. This only really works if you plan on straight line quilt all your coasters. By following this method, it is going to speed up the quilting process in the following step, and save thread because you’re quilting multiple coasters at a time. To do this, carefully lay the quilt blocks in a row or grid approximately 1 inch apart from each other when basting. Placement of the quilt blocks on the quilt sandwich is going to depend on the number of quilt blocks, and the size and shape of the batting. Here is an example of how you’d baste multiple quilt blocks at a time.
It’s important that the quilt blocks are all carefully lined up. The ground work here ensures the quilting seams look identical between all the coasters when the excess batting and backing fabric are removed and squared up, in the following steps.
Step 2: With the heramarker, mark quilting guidelines and quilt as desired.
If following my trick of making multiple coasters at a time, think chain piecing but with coaster sandwiches. With this method, you can continuously quilt your coasters without cutting the thread between each coaster (that’s only if you’re straight line quilting). Essentially, all your coasters are linked together with continuous lengths of thread and one piece of backing fabric and batting.
Step 3: Trim excess batting and backing, and square up all coaster sandwiches. Each coaster sandwich must measure 5½ inch square.
If there are more than one coaster on the one quilt sandwich, take extra care when removing excess batting and backing fabric. With the quilt blocks placed closely, the chance of accidentally on the other coasters is fairly high. To avoid that, use a pair of fabric scissors and roughly cut in between each quilt block to create separate coaster sandwiches. Then measure and trim 5½ inch squares for each coaster.
Step 4: Bind each coaster using your preferred binding method.
Step 5: Make or pour yourself something yummy or refreshing and enjoy your new coasters you’ve created.
For more Blooming Scraps inspiration, be sure to check out the #bloomingscrapsquilt hashtag on Instagram and download the pattern here, if you haven’t got a copy of it yet.