Modular felt coaster tutorial

Modular pieces that fit together make me really happy, and on a recent Google hunt, I found felt rugs here and here made with interlocking shapes. Very cool. So I tried a pared-down pattern for coasters because I'm way too impatient to fit 847,236,780 pieces together to make a rug.

Download the PDF template right here (it makes two coasters.)

Print out the pattern and pin it to a piece of felt. Use an X-acto knife (press hard) or a rotary cutter to cut the diagonal slot in each pattern piece. Then cut apart the pieces, adding the cuts on the sides.

Grab four of the pieces and orient them as shown above. Each piece should be rotated 90 degrees from its neighbor, so that the ends with "arrows" are chasing each other around a square. Pull each arrow through the adjacent slot from the back to the front.

The coaster will look like this when you've locked all the pieces together.

Trim off the points of the arrows. Also trim off any edges that stick out so you end up with a neat square.

To make a larger trivet, see my next felt project.

DIY coaster tutorial round-up

A collection of coaster projects, nice for keeping or handmade gift giving.
Punched coasters by Mackenzie Sasser
Modern number coasters by Mod Cottage (Update: site no longer available)
Stitched cork coasters at Crafting a Green World
Maple leaf coasters at The Long Thread
DIY photo coasters at Phototiller
Tree limb coasters by Mod Home Ec Teacher

Iron-on vinyl coasters, part 2

I bought this lemon paper ages ago because it matches our crazy fake lemon branches (see picture here). I guess I should say "faux" instead of "fake" to make stuff sound fancier. Anyhow, I bought it and then I couldn't think of anything to do with it until now: clearly the answer is more vinyl. I ironed it onto the paper, which worked great. (Except for the piece I ironed too long and the paper turned brown. Oops.) After vinylizing the paper, I stuck self-adhesive cork on the back and cut out squares.

Iron-on vinyl coasters

At the local fabric store I found some iron-on vinyl to play with. It's pretty neat—you can iron it onto fabric or paper. I tested it by making coasters.

1) Cut out two squares of fabric and vinyl for each coaster.(I wanted to end up with 4" coasters, so I cut my pieces larger than that.)

2) Follow the directions that come with the vinyl to adhere it to your fabric. (Summarized: Pull the paper backing off the vinyl and stick the vinyl to the right side of your fabric. Place the paper backing on top, shiny side down, to protect your iron from the plastic. Iron for 8 seconds, then flip the fabric over and press the back side for 4 seconds. Very easy.)

3) Place two of your newly laminated squares together, vinyl sides out. I secured mine a bit with a fabric gluestick to keep them from sliding around.

4) Mark a square on the fabric with a disappearing fabric marker and sew the pieces together, following your lines.

5) Trim the edges with a pinking shears.

(This heavy-weight fabric is by Trefle, sent by my supplier in Japan, AKA Megumi.)

Nifty coasters

My friend Megumi sent these plastic coasters from Japan (purchased at FrancFranc). Aren't they cool? She always knows what floats my boat.

Vintage coasters

See what I bought from etsy seller Fat Patch. Aren't they fun?