Happy Bunting Mug Rug- a Tutorial

I hope you guys are ready for this! I've got a really fun and simple Mug Rug tutorial for you!!! It comes together really quick and is a GREAT way to use up your little bitty scraps! (Because if you are like me, you can't throw those away...they may come in handy one day!) Well, this is the day! I hope my instructions are clear but if you have any questions please leave them in the comment section as other people may have the same questions! I will warn you, this is a very photo heavy post, but it's only because I wanted you guys to be able to see exactly what I am talking about! I will be posting a "Part 2" for the binding, I figured this post was going to be long enough!
Alright, y'all ready to get started????
                                                    Happy Bunting Mug Rug

I hope you all enjoy!

Materials Needed:
- Pile Of Scraps in whatever colors you choose!
- 8.5" x 10.5" base fabric (I used Essex Linen for mine)
- A piece of cardboard or template plastic (I used the back of a cereal box)
- Washable glue stick
- Triangle shape to trace (I used the 2 rulers pictured above, the Sidekick Ruler and EZ Triangle Ruler) but you could easily draw out a triangle using a regular ruler
- Rotary Cutter and Mat (I used my smallest rotary cutter but you don't have to)
- Fabric safe pen or marking tool
- Non fabric scissors
- Scrap of batting at least 9.5" x 11.5" (not pictured)
- Backing fabric (around the same size as the batting. Also not pictured)
- A strip of fabric measuring 2" x width of fabric for binding (not pictured)
(I use my walking foot for every step in making this mug rug, but it is not necessary!)

First thing you need to do is PRESS every piece of scrap you are going to use. It will make it MUCH easier to work with! Once you get them all pressed set them aside.

Let's make our triangle template!

Trace a 1" triangle onto your cardboard.

I then used the pointy side of my Sidekick Ruler to make a complete triangle. (You can just free hand one if you choose.)

Using your NON fabric scissors cut out your triangle shape. As you can see, the triangle does not have to be PERFECT!

Line up your triangle with a clean edge of your scrap and use your rotary cutter to cut around it. Take your time with this part, you don't want to cut your fingers!

You can flip your triangle over and cut again from the same scrap if you have a bigger scrap.
Continue this until you have at least 20 or so triangles!

I always cut more than I need so I have a lot of fabrics to choose from. I also make at least 4 of these at one time.

Now, with your base fabric and fabric safe marker/pen draw out how you want your bunting to hang. You can make this as simple as you want or as complex as you want! I always draw at least a slight curve to mine.

Here is another example of how you can draw your lines.

Start laying your triangles out. You want the edges of each one to slightly overlap the previous triangle, also make sure you line them up with your drawn line.

Play around with your layout until you have it looking just the way you want it!

Once you have decided on your layout get your washable glue stick and glue the triangles into place, one at a time. You don't need a lot of glue, just enough for the fabrics to stick to each other.

Center your base fabric onto your batting piece. I don't usually pin here but you could use a few pins to prevent shifting if you want.

Now take that to the machine and we are going to top-stitch. Start at one end of your bunting, using a 1/8" seam allowance (or smaller) stitch all the way across to the other edge of your bunting.

At the end of your bunting keep your needle in the down position and pivot to stitch down the rest of the triangle. I do not break thread at all during this step. I stitch until I reach the bottom corner, pivot again, stitch back up to the top, pivot, take a stitch to reach the next triangle and repeat until I'm back where I started stitching. I do back-stitch on the very last triangle before I cut thread. (I hope that makes sense)

You will repeat the above step for each bunting. Once you have it should look something like the above picture. (I guess you could say we are raw edge appliqueing?)

Now you are going to go the edge of your base fabric, where you drew your lines and stitch from edge to edge following your bunting as close as you can. I stitch this line multiple times.

(I hope you can see my stitching lines from this picture so you have the idea of what I'm talking about)

Once you have completed the last step, trim all excess batting.

Get your backing fabric out, make sure it's really good and pressed flat. (This is when I attach my label to the backing fabric.) You will center your finished top onto this backing (wrong sides together) and baste (using your preferred method) into place. (I use 505 but it's just as easy to add a few pins in there)

Once you have that basted together, take it to your machine and stitch around all 4 sides using a seam allowance slightly smaller than 1/4".

Once you have that completed, all you need to do is trim the excess and bind it! I use a 2" wide piece of fabric for my binding, and I do it all by machine. I'm hoping to get the tutorial for how I bind my mug rugs up tomorrow or Sat.
(I stitch the binding onto the back and then fold it over to the front and machine stitch it into place.)

Here is my completed mug rug! I love how these look! They are so quick to make and perfect little gifts for anyone (teachers especially!!!)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that its easy to follow. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Linking up with Amanda Jean's finish it up friday!



~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!~