Wonky Stars Christmas Mug Rug

It's me, Laura from CraftyHour again! I'm here today with a tutorial one of my favourite small projects, a mug rug. This one is a Christmas-themed one, but you could use another colour palette and make it for any occasion. The Wonky Star block was the first quilt block I was really interested in two years ago – I made a quilt with 6″ and 12″ wonky stars as one of my first quilted projects.

Wow, love this Wonky Stars Christmas Mug Rug. Pretty idea.

Materials:

  • Scraps of coordinating fabrics – I used a few prints from the Holiday Cheer line by Jan Shade Beach
  • Coordinating fabric strip for binding
  • White or other solid background
  • Small scrap of batting
  • Backing fabric
  • Embroidery floss in coordinating colours

How to sew your Wonky Stars Christmas Mug Rug

The finished dimensions of this little mug rug are 4.5″ x 6.5″. It's based on a 1″x1″ grid (finished squares), so if you want to scale up you can figure out the math. For instance, you could add 1/4″ to each piece and end up with a mug rug that was 5.5″ x 8″. So first, we're going to cut out 16 white squares at 1.5″ x 1.5″. Then cut 5 squares, one for the centre and four for the star points, at 1.5″ x 1.5″ of both feature fabrics (the red and gray). (If you want a little more room to play with the wonkiness of each star, cut 4 of the squares at 2″ x 2″)

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Now cut all but one of each set of coloured squares in half, from corner to corner, to make triangles. The remaining two full squares will be the centre of each star.

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Lay out 8 of the white or background squares, and lay 4 triangles of each colour over them, right sides together. You will be sewing the long edge of the triangle to the white square to make one point of the star. Be sure before you sew that the triangle will cover the square below once you flip it open. To get the wonky effect, try to make sure the angles are different for each.

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Now trim the white square below and press the triangle open.

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Now for the second star points. Place the remaining triangles on each unit in the same way, stitch, trim, and press open.

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Use your quilting ruler to square up each set of star points. They should measure 1.5″ x 1.5″ inches. Ideally, there should be 1/4″ seam allowance at the base of each unit where the star points join, so when you stitch them to the centre square you don't have a gap between the points. So you can actually trim a little more off the white edge than the star edge to help achieve this.

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Arrange the star point blocks around the centre square likes this:

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Then sew each row of squares together. Press the two outside rows with the seams toward the outer edge, and the centre row with the seams toward the middle block. This way the seams will nest when you sew the rows together.

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Now sew the three rows together, and press the seams. Your wonky star block is complete! Repeat steps for the second block. Each block should measure 3.5″ x 3.5″.

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Now to complete your mug rug top, cut two 1.5″ x 3.5″ strips of white and lay the blocks out like this:

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Sew one star block to one strip and press the seam toward the strip. Repeat for the second block and strip.

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Sew the two halves of the mug rug together and press the seam. Your mug rug top is complete. It should measure 4.5″ x 6.5″.

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Layer the mug rug top with the batting and backing and pin or baste the three layers together. Now you're ready to quilt!

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I chose to do a simple running stitch around my stars with embroidery floss. You could also machine quilt this. Once you're finished, remove any basting stitches and trim the batting and backing.

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To bind the mug rug, cut a strip 2″ wide by about 24″. Fold the strip in half, wrong sides together and press. Fold one end of the binding strip 1/4″ under and press. Begin stitching the binding strip, raw edges matching the mug rug, leaving the folded end free, with 1/4″ seam allowance.

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When you get to the first corner, stop stitching at the 1/4″ mark, pivot, and sew down to the corner.

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Cut your thread and flip the binding up at right angles away from the mug rug, like this:

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Then fold it back down with the raw edges matching again. You'll have a nice square corner.

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Start stitching 1/4″ in from the end, so you don't catch the fold in your stitching. Repeat for all the corners.

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When you get the end, trim the binding strip and slip it inside the beginning of the binding. Finish sewing the binding down.

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Now fold the binding to the back and slipstitch it down. Fold the corners to mitre at the back the same way as they are on front.

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And you're done!

Wow, love this Wonky Stars Christmas Mug Rug. Pretty idea.

Brew yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy your pretty Christmas mug rug – or send it to a friend in the mail instead of a Christmas card!

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Wow, love this Wonky Stars Christmas Mug Rug. Pretty idea.

 

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I’m Laura and I blog at Crafty Hour about my handmades for my family and myself. I love God, my family, and sewing, knitting, crocheting, a little spinning – basically anything fabric or fibre realted!

 

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debbie
debbie

Cannot get the pattern to download and I really like the wonky star mug rug.
Could you send the pdf to my email address listed below.

paulineperry65

Just got around to looking at all my favourites after the CHristmas holiday – I LOVE your wonky star placemat and especially like the hand quilting which is beautiful. Hope I get a chance to make some for next Christmas. Thanks – I like everything you do. Happy New Year.
Pauline

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  paulineperry65

Thanks so much Pauline, don’t forget to pin so you can find it for Christmas. Happy New Year to you too and lots of sewing success for 2015.

sunhfarm

These are addicting! Great practice, too, thank you for sharing! 🙂

Pam @Threading My Way

The hand stitching really makes the star stand out. Lovely!!!

Mary

That is beautiful. I love the big stitching too.

diane stanley

how funny that you and I would share the spotlight todaY on Jennifer’s blog. My sister lived in Cayman for 21 years, until she moved back to California in 1997. Wouldn’t that be funny if you knew her or her kids or former husband, the Barefoot Man?

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  diane stanley

Well EVERYONE knows the Barefoot man, but I’ve only been here getting on for 8 years so I wouldn’t know your sister. But yes, what a co-incidence! Its a small island afterall. Your entry into the blog hop is quite stunning!

ediewarren

I love it! I just completed 20 Mug rugs for my Sunday school class. I am hooked! Come see mine at ediewarren.blogspot.com