Helen6869

I want to make mug-rugs for 15 family members for a reunion next March or April. I know many of you have turned these out for gifts and make quick work of them. Any suggestions as how to organize these so they can be made quickly? Thanks for any help.

Scraps

Helen - Jenny on Missouri Star Quilt Co. U Tube just posted a new tutorial for Periwinkle mug rugs. They are cute, different and easy!

tessagin

All kinds of patterns for mug rugs. I made couple aunts Dresden mug rugs last year. You can make a mug rug by making a small scrappy block. Just too easy. You can use fusible to iron then machine applique if you want to do alittle more to the design. I make my mug rugs about size of school paper (8x 10-11) or size of a paper towel sheet (select a size).

Helen6869

Thanks. I will check that out. Just needing thoughts on how to mass-produce them in a few days. Not much time to put on this as a long-term project cause we've still got a lot of fishing to do!! lol!

Helen6869

Yep i thought I'd make a block that suited each person's personality or style and then put the date on it. Had thought of lap-quilts but not enough time for those in my calendar! I don't have an embroidery machine but do have lots of fancy stitches so will be trying those out for the quilting on them. I am not a machine quilter by a long stretch so these will be quick projects all around. Thanks for the ideas!

tesspug

Instead of binding every little one, consider doing the "birthing" method. I birth them, close them up and then sew 1/4" along the edge of the seam (which is inside). It makes a sort of cording around the edge. Speeds up production.

suern3

Good idea! Faster and will look nice.

mandyrose

this might help with ideas http://www.allfreesewing.com/Dining-...g_Rug_Patterns

citruscountyquilter

I agree that to mass produce don't bind them. I use a technique on the back that is similar to the way you fold a box top with the four flaps intertwined. Once I turn it right side out I top stitch around the edge.

To do this technique: do any pattern for the front but it has to be a square. For the back take four squares the same size as the front and fold them in half wrong sides together. Lay your mug rug out in this order. Batting (cut the same size as the front), on top of the the front right side up, next take one of your folded squares and lay it along the bottom raw edges matching; take the next folded square and lay it along the left side raw edges matching (the first folded square you laid out will now have half of it under the second one); take the next folded square and lay it along the top raw edges matching; take the last folded square and lay it along the right side raw edges matching tucking the bottom half of the square under the first folded square. I curve the corners (use a bottle cap as a pattern) to make it easier to turn and stitch around the edges. Trim the corners to reduce bulk. Turn the whole thing right side out where the folds come together in the middle. Top stitch. I also catch where the four folded squares meet in the middle with a few stitches to secure.

If you want to quilt the mug rug then quilt the top to the batting before adding the folded squares. You can also take the squares and fold them into triangles and do the same process. It looks really nice when you use four different coordinating fabrics on the back. I have made these with pieced fronts and also found panels that were meant to be pot holders and used those, often cutting them smaller. Those are really fast.

I wish I had a picture to post here but I've given them all away. There is probably a tutorial on this somewhere too. It is not original with me.

Helen6869

I knew this board had some great ideas to save time on these. Yep, binding takes so long. I think the birthing method will be a real time-saver for sure! Thank you all for the great tips. Will soon get to work and try to post some pix which I have never done before! Thanks and have a great Sunday!