Monday, June 5, 2017

GO! Bee Coasters





This week I was distracted by one of my favorite AccuQuilt GO! projects -- circle coasters.


I love how easy the GO! makes these to make. The directions for these coasters are all over the web, so you can find detailed tutorials elsewhere. Look for Criss-Cross Coasters, such as here and here. I should note that some of the other tutorials don't use batting. I like the extra body and support some batting inside provides, so that's how I prefer to make mine. It's not necessary though. Here's a brief rundown on directions of how I make mine for anyone so interested.

I use the GO! Circles die for the 5" fabric circles and the Dresden Plate die for the 4" batting circles.

First, cut out circles --  5" circles out of the fabric and 4" circles of batting. Each single coaster takes six fabric circles (4 for the four-patch top, 1 for the backing, 1 for the lining) and one batting circle.


Choose the four fabrics for the top and iron them in half.


Then create the layers, starting from the bottom.
1. The lining circle, right side down.
2. The batting centered in the circle.



3. The backing fabric right side up.
4. The first of the half circles.



5. Place the second of the half-circles perpendicular to the first.
6. The third and fourth half-circles continue to work around, with half of the fourth half-circle tucked beneath the first. I use a ruler to make sure my four patch is square.



After that, I clip the circles with wonder clips. I make sure both the front and back are lying flat.



Then sew a 1/4" seam around the edge.


Turn it inside out and there it is, one perfect circle.


With pretty fabric on the back, too, so these are double-sided. (I love that).


We have new patio furniture (well, we have the parts -- my own true love still needs to assemble them).  I'm looking forward to sitting out on the patio in the evening, sipping a glass of wine, and appreciating the bees which have spent a busy afternoon pollinating our flowers. Soon, I tell myself.

I've used the GO! for coaster sets before. I made a fuller tutorial using Insul-Brite instead of batting since I wanted to use them inside with hot mugs of coffee. I also used the Round Flower die on them so that the backing circle is actually the top. You can find that tutorial here.



And last year I made some with clock faces. So much fun. You can see more on them here.





I like to use charm packs. Now, I'll admit, that's a close fit. The charm square is 5" and the circle is 5", so there's no overlap of fabric over the cutting edges on the die. I'm just careful to line up the charm square so that all four sides touch the edges of the circle on the die. It works just fine.

So, that was fun. Now I'm on to a bigger project. More on that later.

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. They really showcase pretty fabric. I really love this bee fabric.

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  2. I love the idea of using the Insul-Brite for hot mugs, etc. Once I started making these I just can't stop. Going to make and give as Christmas gifts too. Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. They really are a lot of fun to make. I've been planning to make some as Christmas gifts, too!

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