I give you: The Criss Cross Coasters
As boring as coasters may seem (ahem, Mr. Plaid), they are fun to make and do bring a bit of excitement to the living area. I love that they need not match the decor, as Jennifer wisely commented, they can bring a splash of color to the room.
Once I figured out that these guys needed to be pinned, it was smooth sailing. Initially, I made a couple of coasters only to discover during the "flipping" stage, that I hadn't caught some of the fabric layers in the seam. So, I had to unflip and resew and it was quite a pain. The slippery fabrics were the worst. However, these are extremely easy to unflip and fix, so if that happens to you, do not throw in the towel.
I decided to just alternate the backing fabrics, so that you could see more of the fun flowered pattern. For the lining, I just used a flannel, because I felt like it would be a little more absorbant. And, because I don't always follow directions, I didn't use any fusible web. I didn't feel like my fabric needed it, and I was sewing through an awful lot of layers as it was.
This tutorial was extremely straight forward and easy to do (once I pinned the slippery fabric in place). The flipping was a breeze. The only other challenge was trying to get those corners poked out nice and square. Which, you can see, I'm still working on...
The fabrics are both from Joann's. It's apparel fabric I picked up on clearance at the end of spring to make summer clothes for the girls. Since we all know how well that turned out, I thought I might as well use it for coasters.
If you'd like to win this lovely set of four coasters, leave a comment on this post before I choose a random winner next Wednesday. And for those of you thinking coasters are dull, I'll throw in a little something extra. I'm not sure what it will be just yet, but you'll get the coasters and an accessory of some sort. (It will not be my favorite Kate Spade teacup pictured above! Because I love, love it!)